


Harry Potter Potions Professor

by Babygirl_Francesca



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, M/M, Professor Draco, Professor Harry, Sexual Situations, Student McGonagall, Student Snape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2018-09-25 21:37:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9846347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Babygirl_Francesca/pseuds/Babygirl_Francesca
Summary: After a potions mix up Harry and Draco become adults, and professors! Concurrently Snape and McGonagall become teenagers. While trying to figure everything out and reverse this Harry and Draco learn things about each other. They are the only ones who can sympathize with each others situation. Fluff and heated situations ensue. Slash, Drarry.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my wonderfeul Beta: The Argent Moon.

"Potter! If I catch you dozing off again, you'll become one of the potion ingredients we'll be using next class!" Snape bellowed with a mean sneer on his face, the look he always seemed to give Harry. Harry felt it was a little unfair that Snape's disdain was reserved especially for him.

At the same time, he supposed that it wasn't really his fault that he was so tired. It was Ron's.

Harry sent a pointed glare in Ron's direction and the red head gave him a bashful shrug of his shoulders. The two had been up almost all night trying to figure out how they could ruin any Slytherin's life. Namely Draco Malfoy's, but they decided that they didn't like Pansy much either.

Harry found both Draco and Pansy sitting together across the room. Draco was laughing none too discreetly at Harry, and Pansy was raising her brow at them.

Harry suddenly realized that he hadn't responded to Snape, who was now turning purple with anger.

"Yes- sorry, professor. I promise not to doze off again." Harry said. Though Ron snickered, Harry was dead serious about the statement. Snape scared him and he didn't want to further anger the man whose bad side he was already on.

As soon as Snape resumed his lecture on how to properly prepare today's potion, Harry went back to thinking about what he would do to Draco; he could save Pansy for later. Harry was trying to pay attention to Snape's lecture while he thought. He was pretty sure that Hermione would fill him in on anything that he had missed.

A lot of ideas came up while Harry and Ron were talking about what to do. They tried to keep it at least a little tame with Hermione around, but stupid and gross ideas started coming out as soon as she went off to bed. One of their first ideas had been to magically place Malfoy's head on pictures in a gay porn magazine. The two quickly realized that that would involve having to get a hold of a pornographic magazine, and then having to look through it to put Draco's pictures in it. Both had shuddered at the idea- especially at the thought of getting caught with the magazine before having a chance to use their magic on it.

The second idea was the one that they were still thinking about. This idea involved potentially ruining Malfoy's 'perfectly styled' and 'suave' hair by transfiguring it to share similarities to both Ron's and Harry's hair. They even considered giving him a long ponytail resembling Hermione's hair. It would obviously be easy to figure out who did this, but as long as Harry and Ron got to see Malfoy like that it would be worth it.

Harry felt the arm that had been holding up his head slip. This immediately pulled him completely out of his thoughts and focus on Snape. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Ron flash him a wink.

"Now, collect your ingredients. And for Merlin's sake, if you feel like the potion is going bad ask for help. I'm not entirely sure what could go wrong while brewing this potion. It's a rather simple one," Snape explained. Harry almost scoffed, it sounded like Snape might actually care about what would happen to them if they messed up. He knew, though, that Snape was probably more worried about his classroom.

Hermione was, of course, the first one done finding all of the ingredients. Ron and Harry were slower, having to search for nearly everything. Neither had heard of most of these ingredients. Harry thought that a couple of them sounded like some of the ingredients stashed in Aunt Petunia's pantry, but he knew from experience that many non-magical people had plenty of wizarding items that they simply didn't know were magical.

The last ingredient that Harry grabbed was wattleseed. It was shaped oddly, like an ugly brown pea pod with black coffee bean-looking peas in it. On the board, Snape had written next to the ingredient that it wasn't the edible type. Harry hadn't even heard of wattleseed, edible or not.

Harry hefted the ingredients back to his cauldron. He was sitting next to Hermione. Ron and Dean sat diagonally across from him.

Harry noticed that Ron was sending glares towards the Slytherins. Several of them whispered amongst each other, signaling that something bad was surely about to happen to them. Harry kept a wary eye on them as he started making his potion.

Hermione acted as Harry's teacher for this potion; he watched and repeated what he did. It was hard to mess up a potion when you were watching someone as good as Hermione make it. Several people obviously thought the same, since they leaned over and craned their necks so they could see what the contents of Hermione's cauldron looked like.

The wattleseed was the last ingredient that Harry had to use. The people around him were already finishing up their potions. Most were done; Harry was lagging behind a little bit.

"Harry!" He heard a voice call. It belonged to Blaise Zabini, from the Slytherin side. He paused; he wasn't someone who would normally ever talk to Harry. Eventually dismissing Blaise, Harry turned his back on the cauldron. Moments later, he heard the familiar sound of a potion being poured into his cauldron, rather haphazardly, and whipped around. Someone had altered his potion.

He moved to investigate the concoction, leaning in towards the cauldron to see what had changed in his potion.

Harry's hands instinctively went up to rub his eyes; they felt dry and crusted over. The chatter of his classmates soon became muffled, and his vision went black.

"Potter! Are you awake yet?" He heard a biting voice call. The voice reminded him greatly of Snape, but it didn't have the same sneer behind it.

Harry opened his eyes and scrunched them once more as light flooded the room. He realized that he was on a bed, and a very uncomfortable one at that.

"Yeah. I'm awake. Where are we?" He asked as a dull pain shot through his neck and the back of his head. It was a killer headache.

"The hospital wing. Come on, sit up, you're the last one awake." The same voice said. Harry still couldn't exactly place the voice. It sounded like Draco's but deeper. No way in hell could it be Lucius Malfoy's, though, Harry thought as he tried to right himself into a sitting position.

He was on one of the beds in Madam Pomfrey's wing, the farthest bed to the right and closest to the door. Next to him were three other people that he didn't recognize.

Harry furrowed his brows; every one of them looked familiar but not recognizable. In the bed directly next to him was the man who had been talking to him. The man looked to be in his late twenties, with faint laugh lines around his mouth and long blonde hair. In Harry's opinion, he looked like a better-looking version of Malfoy.

Next to that bed were two teenagers, one a Gryffindor and the other a Slytherin. They also looked familiar and were gazing at Harry peculiarly.

"Who are you?" Harry asked. He knew that it wasn't the most polite thing to say after having just seen them for the first time, but they all seemed to know who he was.

The blonde next to him opened his mouth to respond, but didn't get a chance to before the teenager with shaggy black hair in a boyish cut spoke up. "Listen up, Potter. Whatever you did to that potion of yours ended up having rather unexpected results. It did something that I don't know how to reverse," the teenager snapped, making Harry suddenly feel very small. A sneer contorted his face, making Harry raise a brow.

"Professor Snape?" He questioned and his lowered brow met the raised one in surprise.

"Correct." The man said in his low rumble of a voice.

"And Professor McGonagall," A high-pitched female voice, which couldn't possibly be the voice of the Professor McGonagall Harry knew, added. The teenager that had spoken had auburn hair pinned up on top of her head. It was very messy, though, sticking out from its bun in disarray.

"So... Why are you two teenagers?" Harry asked, still not really understanding what was happening.

"Harry, it's not just us that changed. Look at Draco, yourself even." Harry's eyes snapped to the blonde sitting up next to him. So that was Draco, an older version of him?

"What's different about me?" He asked and his hands went up to his face. He felt glasses resting on his nose, hair just slightly below his ears, and his raised scar on his forehead. He couldn't really place anything different.

"You don't look that different, but you're definitely older. Definitely don't look like a baby anymore." Draco said with his lip curled slightly in disdain. Harry frowned at the jeer.

"You look just like your father." Harry said. To him it was a major jab, but Draco just looked smug at the words.

"I would say you do too, but how would I know?" Draco asked with a defiant smirk.

"You cheeky wanker!" Harry called.

Before the argument could get any more heated, Snape's voice boomed as he shouted, "Both of you just shut it! I'm trying to figure out how this even happened."

"Some tosser Slytherin threw some ingredient in my cauldron after Blaise got my attention." Harry spoke. He remembered everything up until then. After that only a faint bit came to memory. Harry was also rightly seething at the fact that it had even happened, after he had been so careful with his potion.

Draco had a faint flush on his cheeks after Harry said that. Snape looked passive, not really wanted one of his Slytherins to be in trouble, but McGonagall gave Draco a pointed look. "Mr. Malfoy, did you throw something in Mr. Potter's potions?" She asked with pursed lips. Harry thought that it was silly to see someone who looked like a teenager telling off the obviously adult Draco.

"No, but I know who did. It was stupid, I'm sorry." Draco admitted with an ashamed look on his face. He looked a little surprised that he had just said something genuinely remorseful for once. Snape had a raised brow.

Harry removed the blanket from around him. It was fairly hot in the room. He rose to find that he was dressed in mostly black with a few slivers of green. He had one black form-fitting jeans, a grey cotton shirt, and converse shoes trimmed with green. He also had a few green bangles on.

"So you two are in the past, and we're in the future? This is all so confusing. How is everyone else going to react?" Harry questioned.

Almost on cue, the door opened and a worried looking Hermione, Ginny, and Ron walked in. Hermione looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep and Ginny looked close to tears.

"Severus!" Hermione cried and both Harry and Draco shared a look but stayed silent as Hermione threw her arms around Snape.

"We were so worried!" Ginny chimed in and also put her arms around Snape so the professor was awkwardly smashed between the bosoms of two of his female students.

Harry raised both of his eyebrows and Snape looked uncharacteristically shy. There was a bright blush on his face.

"S-sorry." Snape stuttered out, trying to figure out what was going on while trying to remain composed.

Ron just shook his head. "Bloody hell, mate. I can't believe you blew up the potions classroom." Ron said as he chuckled a bit.

"Mr. Weasley, that language is not to be used in these halls." McGonagall said with her pursed lips. Ron gave her an incredulous look.

Ron shot a sneer at Mcgonagall.

McGonagall let her jaw drop, but quickly composed herself and shot a glare at Draco and Harry who hadn't said anything the entire time but instead stared, freaked out by the whole event.

Draco spoke up, "Watch your mouth We- Mr. Weasley." Draco caught himself, about to call Ron by something a little more personal than an adult relationship.

Hermione brought her face up from checking over Severus and gave a small smirk at Ron's blushing face. "Professors Potter and Malfoy, how are you?" She asked kindly. Harry heard what sounded like a lighter tone when she used Malfoy's voice, her tone got a little more annoyed when she said Potter.

"We're fine. Thank you, Ms. Granger." Draco said with a weirdly kind smile towards her. He's really good at acting. Harry thought with a small chuckle.

A lot of thoughts were swimming around in Harry's head, but for some reason he wasn't panicking; he didn't feel afraid or anything, he kind of thought that all of this was comical.

Harry swung his legs over to one side of the bed and stood. He still had a headache, but really wanted out of the room so he could figure out how to fix all of this. Harry would usually have to wait for Mrs. Pomfrey's clearance to leave, but if he was really a professor then Harry figured he would just be allowed to go when he pleased.

Harry glanced over at Snape and McGonagall, he would need a reason to see both of them later and if the four of them really did in some way switch places. He guessed the best way would be to give them detention. Harry glanced at the clock; after dinner would be an appropriate time for detention.

"Mr. Snape, Ms. McGonagall, please see me in my, uh, office after dinner. For detention." Harry almost winced when he said detention to two of his teachers. Snape looked pissed but McGonagall looked like she knew exactly what he was doing.

Draco swung out of the bed as well and stood. Harry raised an eyebrow when he saw that Draco's hair was just as long as his fathers, if not a bit longer. Draco curled up one lip at the length and weight of the hair on his head.

Draco had a far off look in his eyes, obviously thinking about something. He stayed like that for a moment before looking towards Hermione. "Ms. Granger, if I could speak with you for a moment." He asked with a smile and motioned towards the door.

Hermione smiled at him almost lovingly. Harry wanted to vomit. Gross, did Mione have a crush on her professor? Was it really on Malfoy? Harry thought. She did look rather smitten. "Of course!" She chirped and Ginny gave her a small smirk.

Draco latched his hand onto Harry's forearm- rather tightly- and pulled the man from the room as well.

Draco stood up on his toes, to reach Harry's ear. For the first time since waking up, Harry noticed that he was a few inches taller than Draco, a feat that set a smirk on his face.

"I'm going to explain what happened to her- for now she's the only one that has to know but we need someone to tells us everything. We can't have professors not even knowing where their rooms are." Draco explained and Harry nodded; Mione was a good pick. She wouldn't tell anyone if they told her not to and would probably know everything that they needed.

"What is it that you needed to talk about, Professor Malfoy?" Hermione asked as they got out to the hallway.

Both boys felt a bit bad for leaving Snape and McGonagall, but they were adults. Or, at least they used to be adult.

"Let's speak somewhere more private. Your office, Professor Potter." Malfoy stated and motioned forward. Harry started walking without knowing where he was going. Hermione seemed alright with going to Harry's office, even if she didn't seem very comfortable around him. All Harry had to do was trust that Malfoy knew where his office was.

"You're saying that Professor Potter is my best friend?" Hermione asked with an incredulous look on her face.

Draco nodded with a perfectly straight face. Hermione was up to date now; she knew everything that had happened and what life was like before. She was taking it all in as she sat in Harry's office, which was the last place he had ever expected it to be.

Draco had figured out that they had in a way switched lived with their professors. Both he and Draco were inclined to act like the professor that they had swapped with. As such, Harry's office was where Snape's office used to be.

More horrible then knowing that Snape was waltzing around with his friends was the thought that if Harry didn't get this cleared up, he would be teaching potions to kids older than him.

"Alright, wow. That's a lot to take in. Though I don't see why you would lie to me..." Hermione trailed off in thought for a moment before continuing. "I suppose you just told me all that in the hopes that I'll fill you in on your lives?" She asked, and the two eagerly nodded.

"You said that in the, uh, alternate universe you two hated each other, right?" She asked. Draco sent a sneer in Harry's direction, forcing Harry had to hold back an inappropriate comment.

"Yes, we didn't exactly care for each other." Draco spoke.

"I'll say." Harry added with a frown.

"Then this is going to be awkward. Look at your left hands." Hermione explained cryptically. She looked kind of embarrassed to be explaining all of this.

Harry raised his hand and saw a ring on his finger- his wedding finger.

"Blimey!" Harry exclaimed as he examined the ring that he hadn't noticed before.

"Hell." Draco said in a quieter voice.

Harry was wearing a ring with a red band and a large green diamond in the center. He flipped his hand to look at the palm of the ring; inscribed on the back was "HP+DM".

"I'm married to this tosser?!" Harry yelled as his eyes shot up to Draco and he stared intensely. The thought made him want to vomit.

Draco heard Harry yell but was still looking at his ring. It was the complete opposite of Harry's. Draco's ring had a green band with a red diamond, but the back had the same cheesy thing inscribed on it.

"I don't know how we're going to pull this off." Draco said with his forehead in the palm of his hand.

Hermione looked really awkward sitting next to the two. Draco directed his gaze to her, about ready to let her go just so he could kill Harry Potter.

"Does this mean that we live together? Oh, brother... Have we shagged? Are there wedding photos? Dead lord, was your father there?" Harry asked, the arch in his brows growing deeper with each statement.

"Uh," Hermione looked a bit panicked. "Yes you live together, and I figure that you've, uh, shagged. There are wedding photos. I was there. And yes, Mr. Malfoy was at the wedding." Hermione rambled off, trying to be helpful but just making Harry more pissed.

Draco rubbed his temples lightly as he tried to find the silver lining in all of this. He was getting a massive headache from all of this new information. "At least... At least we'll be able to figure out how to get this all back to normal and it won't seem weird that we're spending all of our time together." Draco explained, causing Hermione to let out a sigh.

"We do spend time together, right Hermione?" Harry double-checked. He couldn't remember ever having married a teacher at the school. He wasn't really sure how they acted.

"Oh, yes!" She immediately answered, then blushed a bit at her promptness. "I mean, you're always together. One of you always seems to have a favor for the other- dropping in on classes and such. Very affectionate too!" She explained.

Draco's heart dropped. That would be a hard thing to keep up. He was sure that a real married couple could easily find ways to be together, but Harry and Draco would probably seem like they were forcing it.

"What do you mean by affectionate? Do I actually have to act like I'm in l-l-lo-love with Draco?" Harry asked, his mind reeled as he faltered over the word love. It was a word he commonly used, just rarely in the same sentence as Draco's name.

"Well, you hold hands at meals. During lunch you usually get your meals to go and walk through the courtyard, at school dances you dance with each other, you sneak kisses-" Harry cut Hermione off.

"That means we don't have to kiss though right! If we're usually sneaking, then we could just pretend we're snogging. No one has to see us kiss, right?" Harry asked hopefully. He did not want to have to keep up appearances with Malfoy of all people.

Hermione shook her head sadly. "A lot of girls are really, um... Into your relationship. They snap photos. If no one was to take any photos, there could be rumors. Some students are already trying to start a rumor that Professor Malfoy is taking advantage of female students... It wouldn't end well if you didn't kiss at least once a day." She explained with a bright red blush covering her face. Harry wasn't sure that he had ever heard Hermione speak so hesitantly in one conversation. He could tell that she was really struggling.

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Alright, Ms. Granger, is there anything else that we need to know about our relationship?" Draco asked.

"I'm not sure, nothing really big. If I think of something else, I'll tell you guys." She pursed her lips lightly to the right. Harry recognized that as her thinking face. "There is one thing. Professor Potter, you don't call Professor Malfoy 'Draco', you call him 'Dragon'. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard you call him by his real name. And every once in a while, Professor Malfoy, you'll call Professor Potter 'Snake', not often, just once every few days." Mione explained, she didn't look very happy having to use her professors' first names.

"Thank you Ms. Granger. That has been duly noted. Now, moving on, what about our teaching styles? Tell us about any quirks or off habits that we may have, if you please." Draco asked her.

Hermione jumped into a long ramble about every little thing that they did as teachers, making sure that they knew everything.

"Malfoy, I can't teach potions!" Harry exclaimed after Hermione left. "She described my teaching just like she would Snape's! I can't do that!" Harry whined. Draco tipped back the chair he was sitting in, leaning dangerously back.

"I'll have to help you plan lessons at night, a script almost that you'll have to read from. Remember, you'll be kind of embodying Snape, it won't be hard for you to be quick with a comeback or downright mean. I mean, have you noticed how nice I've been acting?" Draco asked with a shudder.

"I suppose you're right. I can help you with transfigurations, too, not that you'll need much help. But still, I know McGonagall better than you do." Harry said, and Draco nodded.

Harry glanced up at the clock. It was Saturday- they had been passed out since the explosion yesterday and Harry's stomach was growling loudly. It was nearing dinner time.

"We both need food." Draco said with a sigh. "How are we going to face everyone that we know? With you calling me Dragon! And us holding hands!" Draco exclaimed.

"Imagine everyone in their pants." Harry said with a chuckle and Draco sent him a glare.

"Come on, it's now or never." Draco said and stood from his chair, holding a hand out to Harry. Harry sneered at the offered hand for a moment before grasping it and pulling himself up from his seat.

"Alright, Dragon." Harry put a cheeky emphasis on the nickname.

"Shut up, my Snake." Draco said with the same attitude.

"You know, Draco, I think you only call me Snake the morning after a bang." Harry said with a chuckle. Draco went red.

"What?" he said for clarification.

"Merlin, for a Slytherin you're really oblivious." He said with a chuckle. "Think about it; she said that you only call me that every once in a while, every few days. It makes sense." Harry said with a devilish smirk.

"Harry James Potter! How crude." Draco exclaimed.

"Sheesh, really taking after McGonagall aren't you?" He asked with an eye roll as he walked out of the office with Draco.

Draco didn't respond and instead silently fumed.

Harry was hyper aware of Draco's hand in his. Draco's hand was dry but not rough. It was a perfectly smooth hand with clear-coated nails.

Harry's hand was a bit clammy. They weren't disgusting, but he could tell that Draco was a bit deterred.

Most students were already at dinner, so the two were walking in silence, Draco looked pissed. Harry didn't really care. He was fine as long as they got out of this situation quickly.

"Your hand is sweaty." Draco complained and pulled his hand away so he could wipe it on his black trousers, Harry followed suit.

'Your hand is dainty like a princess." Harry growled and held out his hand for Draco to once again take. Draco took it angrily.

"I'm not a fucking princess." Draco growled right back.

"Oh, sorry, you're a Dragon Princess." Harry said with a smirk.

"You're a bloody arsehole." Draco shot right back.

"I'm your bloody arsehole though." Harry said with a sickening sweetness in his voice. He knew in the back of his head that he shouldn't be trying to get a rise out of Draco. A student could walk by and see them, not that Harry really cared about Malfoy's reputation being ruined. He just worried about his own. He would need to be able to instill fear in his students as Snape had done if he was ever going to teach his weakest subject.

"You cheeky bastard. Be glad I didn't get switched with Lupin! I'd duel you until one of us was forced to use a bloody killing curse to end it." Draco retorted.

"You wouldn't have the balls." Harry said with a small shrug. He could see the doors to the great hall in front of them. They were open, waiting for them to enter.

"I don't have the balls… You damn tosser!" Draco hissed at him.

"Your comebacks aren't even good anymore. I think I've been called a tosser by you a thousand times." Harry said with narrowing eyes. He could feel his wand burrowing a hole in his pocket, waiting to be taken out.

"Will you shut up? My comebacks aren't good? Your comebacks are rubbish!" Draco practically shouted.

Harry shot his eyes towards the doors to the great hall, coming to his senses a bit. He could see a few students nearest the doors looking at them with curiosity in their eyes.

"Malfoy- keep it down." Harry whispered, but he knew in that instant that he had driven Malfoy too far up the wall. Usually, they could throw a couple of spells at each other and get it out of their systems while everyone else got a laugh out of it. He doubted that the other students were going to get a laugh out of two married teachers at each other's throats.

"I will not keep it down! You stupid wanker. You're so immature. You got us into this whole bloody mess." Malfoy jeered as they continued walking, Harry was trying to lag behind but Malfoy had a vice-like grip on Harry's hand and dragged him into the room.

"I did not, that was your fault."

"My fault my ass! You're so easy to get in trouble, to make fun of, to throw a curse at!" Malfoy shouted. Harry gritted his teeth. Almost the whole great room had gone quiet.

"Just calm down. Harry hissed and tore his hand out of Malfoy's to put his hands on Malfoy's shoulders in an attempt to calm him.

Malfoy didn't respond, instead pulling out his wand. Before Harry had a chance to disarm him, Malfoy yelled "Diffindo!" A small slit opened up in the front of Harry's shirt, but the ripping spell went past that and lightly tore Harry's skin. A small drop of blood dripped down his chest.

The students looked alarmed and the teachers looked about ready to throw them off of the property.

"For Merlin's sake! You're barmy!" Harry drew his own wand and started to yell an Expelliarmus spell when he noticed the bracelet about Draco's wrist.

"Expulso!" He shouted and the bracelet exploded, leaving raw skin all around Draco's wrist.

Draco was halfway through a Furnunculus spell when someone shouted "Expelliarmus!" and both of their wands dropped to the ground.

"Crikey." Draco said as he looked around at all of the students' and teachers' eyes on them. Some of the first years looked traumatized. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Snape sit down- he was the caster of the disarming spell.

In the deathly silence, both boys reached down to lift their wands and slip them back into their pockets.

Harry didn't reach for Draco's hand again but instead took one of the open seats at the teacher's table, next to Lupin. Draco took the seat on the other side of Harry.

"You guys really went at it. Are you alright?" Remus asked with concern in his eyes and masking his face.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, sorry. We're both a little high-strung today." He explained with a sigh.

"I was talking about the major Expulso cut on your chest. It's turning your shirt red." Remus said with a small chuckle. Harry looked down and noticed that his chest did have a steady stream of blood pouring out.

"Oh, man." Harry said and flashed Draco a look.

Draco sighed and pulled out his wand, causing everyone at the table to flinch. Harry sent them a sneer that seemed to come to his lips with ease, though he hadn't really meant to do it.

"Episkey." Draco muttered and the wound closed. Harry smiled as he felt the usual sensations of the healing spell before the wound closed. Draco put his wand away.

Harry set his hand on the table. He gave Draco a look that read, "Take it". Harry hoped that they hadn't ruined everything with that scene.

Draco rested his hand in Harry's and they clasped their hands together.

"Sorry, Dragon." Harry spoke. The words came surprisingly easily to his lips, like he'd spoken them before a hundred times.

It felt awkward to have Draco sitting so close and to be holding his hand. But it was also very familiar; it felt like they'd done it a million times. Harry knew that they had, but it was in this new universe so he wasn't familiar with the gesture.

"You're forgiven, my Snake." Draco said with a small smirk. In that instance, Harry knew that Draco had won the fight. He had proved to Harry that the nickname Snake wasn't only used the morning after.

Draco felt good about this, better then he should have. Harry was attractive, and while Draco would definitely poke some fun at him for having sweaty hands, or being awkward - really, Draco could make fun of Harry for anything - he would try to see the silver lining that he had been looking for earlier.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, you two are married and we have to feign being in love with our students?" Snape asked with a face that for once wasn't contorted into a sneer. He actually looked very worried, an emotion that no one in the room was used to seeing him display.

"Wait, you're in love with the students?" Harry asked with a scrunched-up nose. He supposed that Snape looked all right as a teenager; he'd noticed Draco eyeing him a bit as well, and a few of the girls clearly seemed to have their eyes on him.

"That girl - Ginevra Weasley is it? Ms. Granger told me that we're dating." Snape said with the same scrunched nose that Harry had. To Snape, the idea that a teenage girl was dating him and - according to Hermione - in love with him was ridiculous.

Harry paled when Snape said that. Ginny really liked Snape more than him? Apparently, Harry hadn't been enough of a dungeon bat for her.

"That's not as bad as Blaise Zabini waiting on me day and night," McGonagall said with a stereotypical teenage eye roll. Both Draco and Harry thought it was queer that while both of them were obviously adults, they both had teenage habits. Obviously, they had gotten them from the potion mishap.

"Gross," Harry said.

"You mean, you're dating Blaise?" Draco inquired. He appeared to be concerned about something. McGonagall simply nodded.

"I suppose that's what it is. It's awful strange though; he just seems to do whatever I tell him. That doesn't seem like dating." McGonagall admitted, and a blush spread across Draco's face.

"It is dating." Draco snapped. Harry raised a brow at his remark, while McGonagall gave him her pursed lip look for snapping at her.

"Aside from dating, the rest of this is still a mess. I mean, I'm on the Quidditch team." Snape said with a groan. Harry almost choked on the tea he was drinking. Slytherin would actually have a chance if Snape was seeker.

"Does that make McGonagall the Slytherin seeker?" Draco asked, forgetting about Blaise and now concerned about the fate of his Quidditch team.

"Sadly, yes. I'm apparently quite good, too." McGonagall said with a sigh. Draco also choked on his tea.

"I can't say that's worse than Potter teaching potions." Draco spat, prompting Harry to smack him on the back of the head.

"Transfigurations isn't your strong suit either." Harry retorted.

"We'll work with both of you tomorrow on lessons." McGonagall offered.

Harry wasn't too worried about what he was going to teach; what was troubling him more was how he was going to teach, standing in front of all of his friends and enemies. How would he be able to do that?

"Has anyone come up with anything regarding the situation we're in?" Draco asked.

Snape sadly shook his head. McGonagall, though, spoke up.

"Snape would be the one to figure it out. I don't know nearly as much as he does about this field of studies." She admitted.

"Neither do we." Draco spoke, pulling Harry towards him. Harry couldn't complain, though. It was true that he had no idea what had happened.

"I'll take a look at the ingredients in the potion, but I can't promise that I'll find something soon. I actually have studies to worry about now." Snape explained.

Snape was more than a little perturbed about having to do all the studies that he would have once been handing out. He was also more than a little surprised at the sheer amount of the work that the students were expected to do. It felt like much more than it had been the first time he was a student. He took little pride in the fact that he wouldn't be expected to do that great of a job on assignments; it seemed that his current grades were the same as Harry's had been.

McGonagall, on the other hand, needed to keep up with the expectations that Malfoy had previously been living up to.

"We'll reconvene tomorrow, then. Professor Snape, you might also want to mention this to Hermione and look into this sort of thing in the library. She might be able to help you figure it out." Harry offered and the grim man gave a curt nod of his head.

Hermione had shown Draco and Harry where their room was earlier. She had revealed the presence of a room behind a picture of Salazaar, and told them that that was where they lived at the school.

Draco spent an extremely long time in the shower; his hair felt oddly dirty even though it was clean to the touch. He assumed that it probably just came with having long hair, which was quite a hassle.

He turned the water off and let the last few drops cascade over his body. He was a little mad to find that in the future he would lose a bit of his rock-hard physique and in return would just look thin. Draco didn't like his new look all that much. He felt like too much of a pretty boy. The girls in Gryffindor seemed to think that he was still a catch, though.

He and Harry's apartment was almost dead center between Gryffindor tower and the dungeons. Draco hadn't even known this room to exist before now (but then again, it was a magical school so the room may have been formed just for them).

It was a nice apartment as well. Draco had obviously been the one in charge of decorating. It was modern and sleek, something that Draco knew Harry wouldn't have thought of in a million years.

The apartment was separated into several rooms. There was the bathroom, of course, and a bedroom. The very large bedroom had an awfully small bed for Draco's liking. There was also an office, a potions room, a main room, and a small, tucked-away kitchen so that the two wouldn't always have to eat their meals in the great hall. Though judging by the lack of food in the kitchen, it seemed that they mostly ate in the great hall. They had more space than most other teachers had, but their room - unlike the others' - had to be big enough for two.

Draco grabbed off of the rack a towel with his initials embroidered on it in black. D.P.M., Draco Potter-Malfoy. Draco supposed it made sense that they hyphenated their names, but he was glad that the students simply called him Malfoy.

Draco picked up his clothes from that day off of the floor and stepped out of the bathroom. He glanced down the narrow hall to make sure that Harry wasn't lurking about to see him half-naked before darting to their bedroom far to his right.

He closed the door quickly behind him and let out a small sigh. It would be hard for the two of them to stay completely out of each other's sight and off each other's nerves until this whole problem was resolved. He was sure that they had already started to give people doubts on the strength of their relationship from their stunt at dinner that night.

Draco leaned heavily against the door and dropped his clothes in the nearby hamper.

"Planning to stay in that towel all night?" Harry asked, backing out of their shared closet. A scowl immediately twisted Draco's face. Harry was dressed only in a thin grey T-shirt and red silk boxers, which was what he was apparently planning to sleep in.

"No, I don't." Draco replied curtly. After making sure that the towel was secure on his hip, he walked to the closet, brushing past Harry and elbowing him in the ribs quickly as he passed him.

"Tosser." Harry muttered at the assault. "Your clothes seem to be kept in the right half of the closet." He added as he sat on the edge of the bed.

Draco quickly found his clothes, organized perfectly by color and the time of day to wear. He found a pair of black silk pajama bottoms and a black t-shirt. Draco pulled both on after quickly dropping his towel.

The pants fit snugly, and he was embarrassed to find that the t-shirt probably belonged to Harry. It hung down low on his thighs. It made him even more angry that Harry had shot up in height so much. Draco felt as if he had shrunk!

The towel went in the hamper by the door and finally the two were ready for bed, which seemed like it might pose a problem. "You'd better not touch me in your sleep." Draco warned. Harry stood up by the edge of the bed.

"I'll sleep on the couch. We shouldn't give ourselves another thing to fight about in the morning." Harry said. Draco was surprised. Harry was being very civil, and was even letting him take the bed.

Draco felt a blush redden his cheeks.

"Thank you, Harry." Draco said as he tried to force a smile. The fact that he was blushing did not make him any more prone to smiling and being happy around the man.

Harry didn't respond, simply leaving the bedroom with a blanket from the closet. Draco sank onto the bed. A fleeting thought crossed his mind before he fell asleep: when he woke up, perhaps everything would be normal again.

Draco had no such luck, and in the morning an annoying noise woke him up early. He sat bolt upright to try and find the source of the insufferable beeping noise. He blinked sleep out of his eyes and looked towards the bedside tables, where he saw a small, sleek, black box that was flashing 6:00 AM. Draco picked it up and found that the beeping was coming from the odd machine. He glanced at the buttons on the top. One labeled 'dismiss' caught his eye. When he pressed it, the beeping stopped.

"Stupid muggle devices." He practically growled as he got out of bed, now wide awake. It wasn't waking up at six - the time he usually woke up - but waking up like that which put a damper on his mood.

Draco linked his hands and stretched them far above his head, hearing a pop as his muscles strained and started to slightly ache from the lack of movement while he was sleeping. He walked towards the closet, the huge shared one, and opened the door. He half expected Harry to be in there like he was last night, ready to give him a fright again. But Harry must have still been sleeping on the couch because the closet was dark and devoid of life.

Twenty minutes later, Draco was happy with the outfit that he had picked out. He chose tight jeans - not something you would usually see a teacher wear, but he was young and Harry had been wearing the same type yesterday. To pair with the tight burgundy jeans, he had a light, white long-sleeved shirt on with a blazer (in Gryffindor colours, much to his distaste). His hair was still a mess, but he figured that it could be fixed in the bathroom.

"Harry, time to wake up," he called as he walked down the short hall and into the living room.

He figured that he should be using Harry's first name as much as possible if that was what everyone was used to Draco calling him by. Draco rather liked the feel of it on his tongue. It was a common name among muggles but few wizards had names that sounded so normal, save for those accursed Weasels.

Harry stirred lightly from his position on the couch. His feet were propped up on the arm rest. The couch wasn't really meant to be slept on by a grown man. Harry looked uncomfortable, which brought a small frown to Draco's face.

"Five more minutes." Harry groaned. Draco shook his shoulders lightly to try and rouse him from his sleep.

"Come on, we should get to breakfast soon." Draco said. Harry opened his eyes at the thought of breakfast.

"I am hungry," he agreed as he started to sit up. He looked a bit confused for a moment by his surroundings but quickly composed himself and dredged off to get dressed, leaving Draco to fold the blanket and place it on the end of the couch. Draco decided that he would take the couch that night.

Draco brushed his teeth after speculating over which toothbrush was his for a moment. They had forgotten to do that last night, so he simply stood staring at the two for a moment. The ones on the counter were purple and black; Draco didn't trust himself to choose which one was his. He eventually decided to dig through the cupboards and find a brand new toothbrush to use.

He combed his hair out and brought it up into a ponytail in the middle of his head. He knew many things about fashion from his mother, and low ponytails did not look good. Neither did the half-assed outfit that Harry was currently sporting.

"Go change." Draco commanded with a sneer as soon as Harry walked into the bathroom.

"What? Why?" He asked and instinctively reached for the purple tooth brush on the counter. Draco threw the black one away and replaced it with the one that he had used this morning. Harry could live with the consequences of accidentally using Draco's toothbrush if that had been his.

"You look like a train wreck. Did you really think that green jeans would go with a yellow shirt? It looks like a clown vomited on you. Go put on at least a black shirt." Draco said.

The jeans were all right. They were a dark green so they weren't exactly a statement piece, but the shirt just made them look horrendous. "And throw away that yellow shirt."

Oddly enough, Harry didn't argue. He immediately left the bathroom, stripping off his shirt as he went. When Harry came back, he had followed Draco's instructions and looked much better. A small smirk crept up to Draco's mouth. It seemed that Harry had a tendency to do what Draco asked rather easily.

Draco waited by the door for Harry to finish dressing and making himself look proper in the bathroom, then the two started their walk to the great hall together - a very uncomfortable walk for both of them. They held their tongues, fearing that they would get into a fight like they had yesterday. They had their hands clasped together again.

Thankfully, not many students were eating breakfast this early; the room was mainly filled with professors and early rising students, Hermione, McGonagall, and Snape included.

Hermione immediately rose from her seat when she saw the two and walked over with a book in her hand. Most of the students in the room had their eyes on her, as it wasn't often that you saw a student approaching a teacher in the great hall. Or, they had their wary eyes on the two foolhardy professors.

"Professor Malfoy!" She chirped happily. She gave a smile to both of them as she held out the book. Draco extended his hand to take it. The thick book was labeled Unintended Side Affects: Potions Ingredients L-Z.

"Thank you, Ms. Granger. I was looking for this volume." Draco said with a smile, trying to pass off Hermione's giving them the book as a casual and friendly gesture.

"Of course. And Professor Potter, there are some ingredients that you should specifically look at regarding yesterday's potions," she said with a smile before walking back to her seat.

Draco passed the book to Harry and, without question, Harry took it from him. It was a heavy book, bigger than a whole dictionary.

When they took their seats, Harry set it in front of him. "Another student in love with Professor Malfoy?" Remus asked with a small chuckle.

"Are students often in love with him?" Harry asked, hoping that his not knowing wouldn't sound off any alarms.

"You haven't noticed? The female population of this school is always trying to find a reason to talk to him. Maybe if you weren't so scary, they'd go for you as well." Remus explained with a smile on his face. Harry rolled his eyes.

Harry couldn't imagine that he would ever be scary, but students did seem to avoid his gaze.

Draco shuddered at the thought of the female students fawning over him. That meant that he wouldn't only have Slytherin girls to worry about, but also every other girl.

Harry eyed the book in front of him and tried to think of some of the ingredients they had been using yesterday. Nothing came to him. He would have to ask Snape later.

Harry nestled the book between him and Draco and the two began eating.

"This is incredibly frustrating." Harry groaned. Draco noted that that was the eighth time he had complained since the four of them began their studies in Harry's office.

"You just don't know what you're looking for." Draco quipped. Harry curled his lip at Draco but was too tired from endlessly pouring through thick collections of books to bother returning the jeer.

"What about the book that Hermione gave us?" Harry asked.

Snape set down the tome he had been reading. He had remembered all the ingredients of the potion, of course. "It's an old book. It's kind of hard to find everything we need... but given another day or two I could probably figure something out. I've gone through all the roots we used but it's very intensive reading." He admitted. Harry couldn't really blame him, the book was about as thick as he was.

"So we have to stay like this even longer?" Draco asked in a drawled out fashion.

"My apologies, it shouldn't be more than a few days," Snape explained. To Draco that sounded like way too long. He had been expecting Snape to just immediately know what to do.

"Then what about us teaching classes?" Harry asked as he set his book aside.

"We'll have to give you boys some pointers. Potter, you can really just tell them to make a potion out of the book. But Draco, I'll have to make a more detailed lesson plan with you."

"Just as a tip, refrain from giving too much work. I doubt either of you will want to review it," McGonagall warned.

Both of them nodded. Harry was actually quite of glad about that. If anything, he would just have to memorize a passage from a book and read it aloud. Draco would actually have to show kids how to do things.

"I'm sure I'll do just fine. I'm not inept like Potter," Draco jeered. Harry found it a bit odd that Draco was going back and forth between calling him 'Harry' and 'Potter'. Harry was trying his hardest to just not refer to Draco at all. He wasn't sure if Draco was all right with being called by his first name, and he certainly didn't want to call him Dragon.

Harry rolled his eyes, but he couldn't deny what Draco had said.

"How about I go with Mr. Malfoy to his office and we'll work on his lesson while you work with Harry, Severus?" She offered, and Severus gave a curt nod.

Draco gathered his books and left with McGonagall, leaving Harry alone with a very comical-looking Snape. Harry still couldn't get over how peculiarly similar he and Snape looked.

"Alright, Potter. I'll probably have to write this all down for you. We're going to have to have a different potion for each year to brew. Actually, scratch that. First years don't even brew; that will have to be a theory class. You can just tell them to write a paper on some ingredient."

Snape opened a text book that was sitting close by. He flipped to the back of the book and turned it to face Harry. "This is the potion you'll have the 7th years brew. As a warning, many things could go wrong with this. You could potentially blow up the entire class and everyone in it." Snape explained, making Harry shudder. He penned down warnings as Snape gave them, and page numbers as he went through the book.

By the end of it, they had the whole week planned out. Harry dearly hoped that everything would be set right before the end of the week, but at least he had a plan if things went wrong.

Teaching actually sounded a lot harder than learning. Harry would have to closely monitor everyone, make sure that no one was using wrong ingredients, and of course make sure that no one died. Harry was starting to understand why Snape always seemed to be in a bad mood while teaching. Not many teachers seemed happy and carefree.

By the time lunch time came around, Harry was exhausted. Snape would have to lie to everyone and say that he had been in detention during this time. It wasn't entirely a lie, but Harry still felt more like he was the one that had been in detention.

After Snape left, Harry waited a few moments before emerging from his office. He had almost a whole journal filled with notes, which he left on his office desk. It was kind of interesting to have an office, not to mention a whole classroom, and a place where he could be alone. It was rather hard to be alone when you were a student.

Harry walked leisurely to the great hall. He was glad to not have to walk with Draco, even if they'd only been playing at marriage for a day. Harry was a bit ashamed to admit to himself that he felt soothed around Draco. His mind tried to convince him that it was only because he was forcing himself to feel the feelings he should have for the man he was married to, but something else was telling him that he just liked to be around Draco. Draco wasn't all that infuriating when the two were getting along.

When Harry got to the Great Hall, he saw Draco sitting down. Harry went over to meet him.

"Hey," Harry greeted. He took a seat next to him to see that Draco was arranging all his food nicely on his plate. "What are you doing?" Harry asked.

Draco pulled him closer to whisper to him. "Remember, Hermione told us that we usually walk the grounds during lunch." Draco explained.

Harry nodded, kind of surprised that Draco remembered.

Harry grabbed his plate and walked with Draco. Some of the students were gathering up just a little bit of food to take outside. Harry thought it was a nice perk to be able to just take his plate outside.

Draco gripped his dish with one hand and with the other reached for Harry's hand. Harry squeezed Draco's hand lightly when he took it and a small blush crept to his face, but Draco didn't mention it.

They found a grassy spot to sit down in the courtyard and Draco sat with his knees folded under him while Harry sat with his legs spread wide. They looked like polar opposites at that moment.

"How are your lesson plans going?" Harry asked, trying to make conversation as he nibbled on a sandwich.

"They're fine. Surprisingly easy. How about yours?" Draco responded.

Harry groaned at the mention of his lessons. "Horribly. There's so much to remember." He muttered and lay back on the grass. It was nice to feel the sun beaming down on him. He kind of wished he could take his shirt off, but knew better than to do that.

"Sorry, I'll help you study tonight." Draco said. Harry thought it was kind of comical that they were getting along so well. Their conversation was kind of cold and stiff, but to Harry it was a major step up from last night.

Draco lay on his side and propped his head up with his hand as he finished his lunch. He tried to look anywhere but at Harry, though his eyes always seemed to wander to his profile.

"We're really terrible teachers." Harry muttered. They were sprawled out in the courtyard, dressed like a couple of students.

Draco didn't respond; he just let out a soft chuckle and pushed back the strands of hair that had fallen out of his ponytail.

The two sat for a little while longer in comfortable silence. Harry glanced over at Draco every once in a while. A few times, Harry caught Draco looking back at him. A small blush flushed Draco's cheeks whenever Harry caught him.

Harry brought his hands up to rub his eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them. He was had tired from studying with everyone for so long. His eyes fluttered and finally he let them shut.

Draco watched as Harry's eyes fluttered shut, and he let out a soft smile. He looked kind of uncomfortable on the grass but Draco didn't care move him. He was oddly interested in watching Harry sleep.

His feelings were really starting to confuse him.

Draco towel-dried his hair as he sat on the couch with his pajamas on. Harry was eating a banana from the fridge, dressed in his boxers and t-shirt.

"I'll sleep on the couch tonight," Draco offered as Harry took a huge bite of banana that filled his mouth.

Harry opened his mouth to speak but had to wait a moment and swallow the huge mouthful of food. Draco rolled his eyes at him. Harry took a huge swallow and flashed him a smile. "It's really not necessary. I'd rather sleep out here anyway," Harry insisted. Draco pursed his lips.

"You don't even fit on the couch," Draco pointed out. Harry simply shrugged his shoulders.

"Come on, Harry, you should sleep on the bed," Draco said. Harry sighed.

Harry couldn't figure out why he was even arguing about this. He would usually be ecstatic about sleeping on a bed instead of a couch. Something was telling him to think about Draco before himself, the complete opposite of how he would usually act. Usually, Harry would think about the bed's feelings before considering Draco's, as insane as that may have sounded.

"No, Draco. Now get to bed. We have to teach tomorrow," Harry said as he tried to push Draco up and off of the bed.

Draco refused to cooperate and instead laid down on the couch, putting his feet in Harry's lap and refusing to move.

"You're incorrigible," Harry muttered. He stood, throwing the neatly folded blanket at Draco.

"Thanks, that means a lot," Draco said sarcastically. Harry rolled his eyes and turned off the lights in the living room before walking to the bedroom.

Harry chuckled as he saw the alarm clock askew on the bedside table. Harry never had an alarm cluck in his room before, but the rest of the Dursleys always had one. Harry made sure the clock was set, then sat on the edge of the bed.

He laid down over the covers and turned the lamp on, holding a book in his hands. The bed smelled overwhelmingly like vanilla, the scent of Draco's shampoo. It was a little nauseating, but Harry didn't plan to sleep on the bed the whole night. His instincts were telling him that it was wrong for Draco to be on the couch. Harry could tell that he was the more dominant man in the relationship.

After a good hour or two of reading, Harry felt it was safe to assume that Draco was soundly asleep. He set his book on the bedside table and tip-toed over to the living room.

Draco was cuddled up on the couch and Harry had to admit that he fit on the couch a lot better than Harry did. He looked at Draco's sleeping face for a moment before he realized that he was being creepy, and slipped his hands under Draco. One hand grasped him under his shoulders and the other one supported him under his knees.

Harry hefted Draco up into his arms and found that he was surprisingly light, lighter than he would have suspected. Harry carried Draco to the bedroom without waking the smaller man. He lay Draco on the bed and pulled the covers over him.

"'arry?" Draco mumbled in his sleep. A small smirk came to Harry's face.

"Goodnight, Draco," Harry said as he turned the the lamp off.

"Night," Draco mumbled. He cuddled into the covers of the bed.

Harry cast one last long look at Draco's sleeping face before retiring to the couch.


	3. Chapter 3

Draco's nose crinkled as he woke. The alarm hadn't even gone off yet, so he was a bit annoyed to have been woken from his sleep. He sat up to find that he was in the bed, and a small frown covered his face. He didn't remember Harry putting him in the bed. Oh, lord. Had he carried me? Was the only thought in his head. Another blush crept up. Bloody hell, I've been blushing too much recently, he thought.

Draco heard a noise, almost a shout, coming from the living room. Draco angrily got out of bed, expecting Harry to be doing something completely stupid at this early hour. It was barely four-thirty in the morning.

"Harry," he mumbled as he stumbled into the living room. Harry was on the couch, rolling around a bit, getting precariously close to the edge.

Harry didn't respond, obviously still asleep. "Harry! For Merlin's sake, please shut up," Draco said, frustration seeping into his voice. He walked around to the edge of the couch and shook Harry.

"No! Please!" Harry shouted. He still hadn't woken from his sleep.

Draco sunk to his knees at the edge of the couch and put his hands on Harry's shoulders. He gave him a good shove into the couch. Harry flailed as he woke up and his fist shot out, nearly missing Draco but still clipping him on the chin.

Draco growled at the action and held up his fist to hit him right back, but then he saw the panicked look on Harry's face and lowered his fist. He looked downright terrified.

"Harry?" Draco asked timidly as he rested a hand on Harry's forearm, ignoring the stinging pain in his chin.

Harry sat up and opened his eyes to stare right at Draco. "Oh, Merlin. Draco, I'm so sorry," he said in a rush with wide eyes. Draco leaned over to turn on a lamp.

"Geez, it's fine. What was that?" Draco asked. He took a seat on the couch where Harry had made some room for him.

"Just a nightmare," he admitted rather quietly. Draco's eyes softened a bit; he had guessed that it had been a nightmare. For some reason, Harry seemed really bashful about it.

"Hey, it's fine. Sorry for yelling. Do you want to talk about it?" Draco asked. He had never really been plagued by bad dreams, so he wasn't entirely sure what to do. He was just going with what felt natural to do and say.

Harry looked really shy about the question for a moment but finally he half-nodded with a slight tilt of his head. "Yeah, I really would," Harry said. Draco set a hand on Harry's back.

"It was about the Dursleys... The family that I lived with," he explained. "They yelled at me a lot - verbally abusive, you could say. When I was a kid, I used to have nightmares all the time and it would go further then that. I haven't had one for years, but I guess something must have triggered it. I have no idea what, though," Harry said. Draco started to rub soft circles into Harry's back.

"Would it help to describe it to me?" Draco asked.

Harry shuddered a bit at the thought and without really thinking he leaned into Draco's touch lightly. "My uncle was yelling at me, and both my aunt and cousin were out of the house. He got really mad at me. I dropped a plate and he took it too far. He punched me and I passed out. I was this age in my dream, but I couldn't fight back..." Harry trailed off and sniffed. Draco put his arm around Harry's shoulders and pulled him close.

"Harry, you don't have to continue," Draco said, but Harry still continued.

"I want to. I've never told anyone about these dreams before."

Draco took a deep breath when Harry said that, surprised that Harry was telling him personal information.

"After he punched me, I passed out for a while. When I woke, I was on my bed and he kneed me in the stomach several times," Harry said as he took a shuddering breath. "I know that he would never go this far ever. They weren't that bad of a family," Harry assured. He paused for a long moment.

Draco didn't say anything; he just wrapped another arm around Harry and pulled the shivering man into his lap. "Oh, Harry, you don't have to. Don't relive it," Draco cooed.

Again, Harry continued with his description. "He left the room, and there was someone standing in the corner. I don't really think it's anyone I know, more of a metaphor. Anyway, the figure in the corner raped me, Draco. Raped me." Harry finished and sucked in a deep breath, then a sob tore through him. Draco was at a complete loss for words; his mouth opened and closed without any noises coming out. "There was so much blood," Harry finished, and Draco softly rocked him in his lap.

Harry turned on Draco's lap, practically straddling him, and gripped Draco's shirt, letting his tears fall onto it. Harry wasn't even completely recognizing that it was Draco he was sobbing to.

"Harry, it was just a dream," Draco soothed. He let out a few comforting shushes as Harry cried. Draco knew from rumors that the Dursleys had only ever yelled at Harry. But enough emotional stress like that was enough to send anyone over the top and give them wild thoughts. This was also a stressful situation that Harry was in, with the potion mix-up.

Harry cried for a while, probably a good fifteen minutes, before anything he said was even comprehensible.

"Sorry for waking you up, and hitting you," he muttered. Draco almost slapped him at that.

"Harry James Potter, don't apologize. If you ever have another nightmare, I want you to wake me up immediately. I don't care if you have to break my nose to do so," Draco said, snappy at first but mellow by the end.

Harry chuckled a bit at his words. "I don't think I'll have another one. They're drastic and blow everything out of proportion. But thank you for helping me," Harry said. Draco continued to rub his back.

Eventually, Draco felt Harry's weight rest heavily against him. He was asleep. Draco pulled them both down so that they were laying down, with him spooning Harry.

"Sleep well, Harry," he said quietly. He gently pressed his lips against the top of Harry's head. It was something that felt oddly natural, like it was something that he should be doing all the time.

Draco woke to the sound of the alarm clock going off at six. He was so annoyed, he fried the alarm clock so that the tiny, loud box would never annoy him again. Harry was still sleeping in front of Draco. He let a soft smile grace his lips.

"Harry," he called softly, trying to rouse the boy from his sleep.

Harry simply groaned and wiggled deeper against Draco, causing an unwanted reaction to stir in his pants.

Draco immediately sat up to hide the reaction and buried his face in his hands.

"Come on, Harry. We have classes to teach today," Draco emphasized. Harry immediately perked up at that thought and opened his eyes. Draco stood to walk down the short hall to the bedroom.

"Draco!" He heard Harry's voice call out.

"What is it?" He called back.

"Thank you for last night. I think I really just needed to let it out. That was quite the dream. And sorry for falling asleep on you," Harry said. Draco heard a slight chuckle at the end.

"Harry, everyone has something that sets them off. Yours just happens to be extreme stress. I mean, this situation that we're in is crazy stressful. And I didn't really mind," Draco admitted before quickly walking into the bedroom. He made a beeline for the closet, not waiting to hear Harry's response.

Draco grabbed a pair of black trousers and a red button-down shirt. In this ensemble, he looked a lot more like a teacher than he had yesterday.

He disappeared into the bathroom to fix his hair and take care of his problem.

Harry slowly got up from the couch. He ached all over from sleeping in that weird position. He knew that Draco was in the bathroom, so he walked to the bedroom instead. He let out a small sigh as he walked into the closet.

Harry had a hard time explaining those nightmares to himself. He knew that the Dursleys would never let anything like that happen to him, no matter how mean they were.

He grabbed some jeans and a white button-down, leisurely putting everything on and pulling on some comfortable shoes. He glanced over at the alarm clock before he walked out of the bedroom and chuckled. It had turned black from the bolt of electricity that Draco had sent through it.

Harry pushed his hair back out of his face. He had caught a glance of himself in the vanity mirror in the bedroom and saw that it looked fine. He rather liked this hair style; it was easy to maintain.

Draco walked out of the restroom and smoothed down his shirt. Harry glanced over at Draco and cocked an eyebrow while letting out a soft chuckle.

"What is on your head?" Harry asked while trying to stifle a laugh.

"It's called a man bun, thank you very much. And I thought it would totally cheer you up," Draco said with a smirk as he walked towards Harry, the blonde bun on the top of his head bouncing all the way.

Harry smiled and casually put an arm around Draco's shoulders as they walked out of the room. Draco widened his eyes a bit; even though most would consider it as a casual gesture, Draco took it as a little bit more. He was, after all, being pulled very close to Harry.

"I can't believe that just a few days ago, we were attacking each other in front of students," Harry said with a sigh.

Draco didn't respond. He just leaned into Harry's embrace. He tried to convince himself that only because they were married were they bound to have some feelings for each other, but had a hard time denying them with the type of reaction that he'd had.

The Great Hall was mostly empty when the two entered; they were almost too early for food. Snape and McGonagall were, of course, already seated and eating. Snape flashed an exceptionally mean sneer at Harry.

Harry sighed and sat down next to Draco at the table. As they did the other times they'd eaten together, they grasped hands on the table and started to eat.

Harry was kind of shaky at the thought of teaching his friends, and people older than him.

Draco felt that Harry's hand was hotter and clammier than usual so Draco softly rubbed circles into the back of it with his thumb.

"It's going to be alright," Draco assured, whispering into Harry's ear.

Harry smiled lightly down at his food and bit his lip as students started to flood into the Great Hall for breakfast.

"We should probably get to our classrooms," Draco said with a small frown and stood, holding out his hand to Harry.

Harry took it with a smile and stood with him, heading to the classroom. They split up when they left the hall.

Harry let out a long sigh as he finished his first lecture, which just happened to be on 6th years. He felt his voice get small several times as he struggled to speak in front of all of his friends and enemies.

"And now, turn to page 508. There's instructions on how to make a love potion. Don't give anyone this potion, and don't try to keep any for yourselves," Harry quipped with a sneer. He was actually pretty proud of himself for being able to do that. It came very naturally.

His students turned to the page and then quickly got up to get their ingredients. Harry gazed around the room as he looked over all of his notes on the potion. He was glad that Snape had suggested this one, as not much could go wrong with it. He scanned the crowd and made eye contact with Snape for just a moment. Unless Harry's eye sight was going bad, he was pretty sure he saw a small smile flash in his direction.

Harry smiled to himself when he saw it and stood to walk around the class, making sure that everyone's potion looked all right.

"Mr. Weasley, before you add the completely wrong roots to your potion, I recommend re-reading the instructions and taking a hint from Ms. Granger," Harry spat at his best friend. Ron looked scared, and Harry had to hide a smile. That was really fun, he thought to himself.

Snape gave Harry a smirk and Harry took extreme pride in that.

A knock came at the door of the potions classroom while Harry was back sitting at his desk.

"Come in," he called, and the door poked open. He saw Draco's head poking through.

"Oh," Harry said in surprise. He stood to walk towards the door. Not many students looked that surprised to see Draco showing up.

Harry slipped out of the room, making sure to leave the door open just a bit.

"Do you need something?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

Draco let out a sigh. "I just wanted to see how you were doing and get away from those wretched 7th years for a minute." He said with a sigh. Harry put his hands lightly on Draco's shoulders.

"I'm doing fine," he said, then leaned in to whisper into Draco's ear. "I yelled at Ron," he whispered with a giggle before pulling away.

"You didn't!" Draco exclaimed with a playful slap on Harry's shoulder.

"Have you quipped at anyone yet?" Harry asked.

"I called a 7th year a tosser very loudly in front of everyone," Draco said with a chuckle.

Harry let his jaw drop slightly. "You're so bad."

"I should probably get back to class," Draco said with a small sigh. Without thinking, Draco pulled Harry into a tight hug.

"I'm glad you're feeling better," Draco mumbled, and Harry wrapped his arms around Draco in return.

"See you at lunch?" Harry asked.

"Yup, and I think Ms. Granger has something very interesting to tell you," Draco said with a smirk as he pulled out of the hug and turned to walk away.

Harry watched his as he walked away and oddly thought that Draco may have been provocatively swaying his hips.

Harry gave a small smirk.

Harry dismissed his last class before lunch. On his way to the hall, Hermione caught up with him.

Harry gave her a nod, trying to keep the exchange professional even though he wanted to give her a hug and smile at her. "Hello, Ms. Granger. Professor Malfoy mentioned that you might have something I want to hear?" He asked with interest in his voice.

Hermione blushed brightly and nodded. "Y-yes. It's come to the attention of several girls that you two haven't kissed in several days. I know it seems like it hasn't been that long, but some people are starting to talk - especially with that fight you two had," she rambled off.

Harry's heart sank when she mentioned kissing Draco. They had just started liking each other. This would probably stir up a fight. "Thank you Ms. Granger. We'll make sure to remember that," he said. He saw the faintest graces of a smile on her lips before she scurried off.

Harry continued slowly walking to the great hall. He was not looking forward to facing Draco. When they had been out in the courtyard yesterday, students were milled around, so he knew that it wouldn't be hard to get caught kissing.

It was just the matter of actually kissing Malfoy that troubled him.

Harry sat down on the bench and made sure that all his food was securely on his plate. Draco's plate was missing, so Harry figured that he was already outside and waiting.

Harry nibbled on his food as he began his walk. He walked towards the place where they ate yesterday and took a deep breath as he spotted Draco on the grass where they had sat yesterday.

He took a seat next to him.

"Hey," he muttered. Draco just nodded in response as they finished their lunches. Harry took his sweet time eating his. He just wanted to get this whole awkward lunch period over with, kiss and all.

"Did Hermione talk to you?" Draco asked, speaking quietly so that no one would hear him use a student's first name. It was still kind of odd of for both of them to call all these people by such formal names.

"Yeah, she did," Harry replied dryly, setting his plate aside. Almost as soon as he set it down, a house elf had scurried off with it - one of the perks of being a teacher.

"Are we going to go through with it?" Draco asked, and Harry shot him a look.

"Don't we have to?" Harry asked. Draco pursed his lips.

"All right. Let's do it," he said, and Harry took a shallow breath.

"No tongue, right?" He asked with a small smirk.

Draco scrunched up his nose, but hooked a hand behind Harry's neck. "You just ate a ham and cheese sandwich. Your tongue will be getting nowhere near me," Draco warned. Harry put a hand on Draco's hips.

"I guess I should take that as a challenge," Harry quipped.

"Is it odd that even when we're just about to kiss, we're still joking? I feel like we've been doing this since the second time we woke up this morning," Draco said with a small smile.

"I thought you were going to hex me into next week," Harry said as their lips got closer. Draco chuckled a bit, and both boys just stared at each other for a while. Draco's eyes went from Harry's piercing green eyes down to his pink lips. Without thinking, Draco wet his lips with his tongue. Finally, he closed the gap.

Harry almost instinctively pulled back when he felt the cold lips press against his, but Draco's hand behind his neck kept him firmly in place.

Draco felt warm lips press against his very softly and smiled lightly against Harry's lips. He was surprised to feel Harry smiling back.

It took Harry a moment to warm up to the idea, but soon he pulled Draco a bit closer. Their lips moved against each other's very softly. Harry knew that the kiss had lasted probably a little bit too long, but he couldn't bring himself to pull away, not now.

Harry felt a soft bite on his lower lip and he immediately moved to pull away. Only centimeters away, Draco still had Harry's bottom lip lightly between his lips. Draco had a slight half-lidded look to his face but when he realized what he was doing, he immediately let go and stood up.

"S-sorry..." Draco muttered. Before Harry could get in a word, Draco left.

Harry let his eyes glance around. He saw several girls that had just finished eating staring before quickly scurrying away.

Harry lay his head back against the grass with a small sigh. What was that? His mind was reeling. He brought his fingers up to his lips and left them there for a few moments.

There had been no tongue, no touching, no nothing. Just a normal vanilla kiss that for some reason was the best kiss Harry could ever remember having.

He was half aroused and had to wait a few moments to try to will it away.

Finally, Harry felt secure enough to walk to class. The halls were empty; he was late for his own class. Harry didn't care much, though, and still bellowed to confused students to get to their classes.

A group of first years didn't dare question why he was late for his class and instead ran to their seats with panicked faces.

Dinner was an incredibly awkward affair. Draco and Harry tensely held hands and didn't speak with each other. Instead, Harry was speaking with Remus.

"How were classes today, Harry?" Remus asked, and Harry let out a sigh. He wanted to talk about just how hard today had been, but he didn't want it to seem weird that he was suddenly so out of it with teaching.

"They were fine, I suppose. Just the usual trouble makers and such," he explained while he took a stab at his mashed potatoes with a fork.

"Hand out any detentions?" He asked.

Harry shook his head. "No one was being that bad."

"I think this is the first time that you haven't handed out a detention." Remus said with a chuckle.

Harry thought about that for a moment. Snape gave out detentions like a neighbour handed out candy on Halloween, so Harry supposed that he should start as well. He vaguely remembered Snape warning him against it, though. Detention seemed like it would be hard to run, though it would be a good way to threaten kids.

Draco left the hall first. Harry watched him as he walked out and let a small sigh escape his lips.

"You guys doing alright?" Remus asked.

Harry nodded quickly. "Yeah, we're both stressed right now," he explained as he finished his food and stood.

"It's weird to see you guys so tense around each other," Remus remarked.

"I'm sure we'll be fine in a few days," Harry assured before walking from the Great Hall.

Harry wasn't entirely sure how he was feeling about having to kiss Draco several more times this week, or until Snape got them out of this situation.

"Professor Potter!" He heard a voice call as he neared his and Draco's room.

Harry turned and saw McGonagall trying to catch up. "Yes, Ms. McGonagall?" Harry asked.

McGonagall walked close, presumably so that no one else scurrying about the halls would hear their conversation. "Good job in classes today. Dare I say, you're a natural," she said with a small smirk. Harry beamed at the praise.

"Thanks," Harry said before the two parted ways.

He slowed his gait as he got closer to the room. He almost knocked when he was finally in front of the portrait, but decided against it and just went inside with a deep breath.

Draco looked up from his place on the couch, his hair let down and messy around his shoulders. "Hey," he said with a smile. Harry was a bit taken aback. He had figured that Draco wouldn't speak to him, as was the case during dinner.

"Hey," Harry replied as he took a seat on one of the armchairs.

"About the kiss..." Draco started, but Harry interrupted before he could get any further.

"How about we don't talk about it," Harry offered, and Draco smiled at him.

"Sounds perfect," he said. The two fell into a comfortable silence.

They read in each other's presence until they both felt their eyes drooping. Harry got up first to take his shower and get dressed. He took a long, cold shower as he tried to forget about the feelings that had come with that kiss.

Draco was waiting outside the restroom, leaning against the wall and waiting for Harry to be finished. He was thinking deeply about their sleeping situation, considering asking Harry if he wanted to share the bed. Harry seemed to be fine with waking up this morning, knowing that they had slept curled up together for about an hour the night before. If they shared the bed, they wouldn't have to snuggle together like that, though, of course.

When Harry opened the door, he was still pulling a shirt over his head. Draco averted his eyes. "All yours." Harry motioned towards the waiting bathroom with a grin.

Draco smiled at Harry's gesture. "Do you want to share the bed with me tonight?" He asked rather suddenly. He just needed to ask it before he lost the nerve to.

Harry furrowed his brows at the question as thoughts of today's kiss and the cold shower he just took surfaced.

"No, I don't think so," Harry admitted. He brushed past Draco to get to the living room, leaving a very stunned Draco standing in the doorway to the bathroom.

Draco didn't comment on Harry's decision. It was weird of him to ask anyway; why would Harry have even said yes?


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a long wait, I have the rest of the chapters written, I'll just post them pretty quick. :) don't really have an excuse for why it took so long other than I just forgot... I honestly thought I'd finished this story :/ oh well

The morning after Harry's dismissal of Draco's suggestion to spend the night together was awkward for both of them.

Harry only realized then that it had probably been a little bit more than just a friendly offer, and that he had probably hurt Draco's feelings. Oddly enough Harry actually cared that he may have hurt Draco.

After they were both ready for the day, they headed down to the great hall for breakfast. Hermione sent them both a small smile and Harry returned it with a nod. He wished that he could curl up on the couch with her in the Gryffindor commons room and tell her all of his problems, about how confused he was, and ask her what he was feeling - what he should be feeling - about Draco.

He couldn't, though, so over the past few days Harry had sat at the professors table with Draco, hands still clasped together.

"Excited for classes today?" Draco asked with a cheeky smile on his face.

Harry sent Draco a glare. "No," was all he said, but his lips curled up into a smile after he said that.

After breakfast, Harry had seventh years to teach.

Seventh years were the rowdiest bunch. They obviously thought that they were done with their education and acted out on those feelings. His first thought was to hand out detention but he wasn't sure if he was ready for that kind of thing. He knew it would be easy, just make them clean cauldrons or scrub the floors, or write lines, but he already had a hard time telling the seventh years off as it was. He didn't think he could give out detentions.

Harry had set the seventh years on making antidotes for love potions, something you always needed with the crazy Hogwarts girls.

Harry leaned back with a book after he was sure that no one was going to mess anything up. He drummed his fingers at he waited for the class to end. He was surprised at how hot and cold teaching was. Yesterday he was always on his feet, making sure that nothing was going awry, but today he felt secure in the fact that no one would mess anything up.

"Professor Potter?" He heard a timid voice call out. Oh shite, he thought. There's no way I can help someone with a potions problem.

"Yes?" He asked in response, trying to play it cool and blowing off the fact that he had no idea what the student's name was.

"Um, I think I did something wrong," she admitted in a quiet voice. Harry let out a sigh, getting out of his chair and walking over to the student. All eyes were on him.

Harry glanced into the cauldron. A vile stench was coming from it and it was pale orange in color. The rest of the students had a completely different color. Harry paled; he had no idea how to deal with this. He'd made plenty of antidotes for love potions but he'd always had Mione to keep him from royally screwing up.

Harry turned the heat off. "It's rubbish," Harry began, and glanced at the girls robes. He cringed a bit before curtly saying, "Ten points from Gryffindor for a subpar potion." This had been his first time taking away points. He was a bit sad that it was from his own house, but at the same time felt that it was oddly exhilarating.

After the seventh years left, a gaggle of scared looking first years waddled into the potions classroom. Even yesterday they had looked completely frightened by Harry.

He started in on his lecture, but of course some of the first years who still weren't taking everything seriously began talking in the back. By the end of the class, he'd handed out two detention and silently cussed. After dinner tonight he would need to find something for them to do. But he got the same exhilarating feeling when he gave them detention and had to let a small smirk come to his lips.

Draco had been a bit on edge all day. He was glad that things with Harry were better than they had been last night after the kiss, but he still felt a little bit awkward about all the feelings that were coursing through him. He knew that he was gay; he had been with Blaise... It was odd, Draco rarely even thought of Blaise since this whole thing happened.

It hadn't really been dating though. Blaise just liked to wait on Draco and in return Draco would make out with him or something. Draco liked it and Blaise seemed to like it, too, but it didn't look much like dating to others.

At lunch, Harry told him all about the kids that he'd given detention to. Draco had taken points from Ravenclaw yesterday so he already knew how empowering that felt, but detention sounded interesting. He was sure that he wasn't known for giving detentions if he was anything like McGonagall, but giving one might be kind of fun. Mean, but fun.

Draco had the sixth years for his last class of the day and was dreading it just like he had the day before. It was so hard to sit at the front of that class with Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, and Blaise all staring at him, not to mention McGonagall and Snape.

Snape was the worst. He just stared at Draco rather blankly and whenever Draco messed up there was a sneer on his face.

Today they were turning dinner plates into mushrooms. Something a little bit difficult but McGonagall told him that they could probably do it, so he started in on his lecture.

"Is there anyone who wants to demonstrate?" Draco asked, it wasn't really a question. He knew that teachers did that all the time, even if no one volunteered he would still choose someone. He tried to give McGonagall a look saying please volunteer, but she didn't.

Draco surveyed the room with pursed lips, no one volunteered except for Hermione but Draco knew that she would obviously know the answer, so he called on Pansy instead. That was another thing you could do as a teacher - completely ignore the people that were actually volunteering. "Alright, Ms. Parkinson, if you would demonstrate," Draco called, and oddly enough Pansy blushed. Draco raised a brow. She nodded and quickly transfigured the plate into a mushroom.

"And that's how you do it. It's really not that hard," Draco chided. He heard Crabbe give a small noise of annoyance and flashed him a narrowed-eye look. "Is something wrong Mr. Crabbe?" Draco asked. Crabbe looked like he didn't want to answer at first, but then spoke up.

"I just think it's odd that Granger was raising her hand, but you called on Pansy," Crabbe said with a slight sneer on his face. Draco furrowed his eyebrows; he wasn't really sure what Crabbe was getting at.

"And your point?" Draco asked.

"Just maybe that Pansy did something a little special for you to let her show off in class," Crabbe said and several Slytherins snickered while Pansy blushed deeply. Merlin, why does everyone in this school think I shag students? Draco thought.

"I would never do anything sexual with a student." Draco warned him, though the words came out more like a hiss.

"Pansy's face says something else," Crabbe muttered. Draco tried to take in a deep breath to stay the anger of fucking Crabbe defying him. A light shattered in the room and several students jumped.

"Mr. Crabbe, if you say one more word you will be in detention for the rest of your sorry life. I am happily married and teenagers don't interest me," Draco lied. Teenagers did interest him, but it was reasonable. He was a teenager.

Goyle let out a snicker at Draco's reaction. So that was it, Draco thought. They just wanted to get a rise out of me.

"Misters Goyle and Crabbe, Professor Potter will be happy to see you in detention tonight after dinner." Draco spoke and both of their faces dropped. Draco smirked; it looked like kids were a lot more afraid of Harry than of him.

Snape also sent Draco a smirk and Draco took pride in that, though he was still furious. Crabbe and Goyle were his lackeys. They did what he said. Even if he was a teacher, they should still know not to disrespect him.

"Now, back to the lesson." Draco resumed his lesson, having all the students preform the transfiguration and slightly shaking as he did so.

After classes, Draco decided just to laze about the apartment and attempt to blow off some steam. There were some interesting potions books that he'd been meaning to read.

Twenty minutes before dinner, Harry entered the room. "Hey, how were classes?" He asked as he took a seat on an armchair.

Draco scowled when he brought up classes. "They were horrid. Crabbe and Goyle are joining you for detention after dinner," Draco said.

Harry quirked his lips to the side. "Why did you have to give them detention? I thought you were best mates," he asked. Even though he knew that Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't really friends, they did still spend a lot of time with each other.

"They accused me during classes of shagging Pansy and then of giving her special treatment during classes. The thought is disgusting," Draco said with a shudder.

"Have you ever shagged Pansy?" Harry asked, referring to the time before the potions mix-up.

Draco shook his head with a sneer. "Has it not gotten across to you that I'm gay, Potter? I know I don't prance around like a queen but I thought it had been made obvious when we found that McGonagall was dating Blaise," he explained and Harry grinned.

"Draco, you most certainly do 'prance around like a queen,' but I guess I just didn't put two and two together," he said with a shrug. It wasn't big news to him. Harry had been debating his own sexuality before all this happened, and the fact that in his future he was married to a man had kind of thrown him over the point of simply considering that he might be gay.

"Do I really prance around like a queen?" He asked, some of his worries from today leaving him as Harry made him laugh.

Harry nodded with a smug look on his face. "Like the bloody Queen of England," Harry agreed, making Draco chuckle.

"Should we get to dinner?" Draco asked. Harry nodded, standing from his arm chair and holding out a hand to help Draco from the couch. Draco took it and the two walked to the Great Hall together. "You'd better keep me from hexing Crabbe into next year," Draco said with a slight scowl.

"Though I would love to see that, I promise to hold you back." Harry said with a grin.

When they got to the Great Hall, Draco had been right and he immediately went to pull out his wand. Harry gripped the wrist that held the wand tightly and urged him to put it down. Draco had had enough of the seditious rumors that surrounded him.

Draco's face was frozen in a sneer and Crabbe actually looked a bit scared - at least he knew that the teachers were obviously stronger than him.

Harry put an arm around Draco's shoulders and pressed a soft kiss to the man's cheek - that would count as their kiss for today.

They took a seat together. Draco had a bit of the shakes back that he'd had earlier. Harry put his arm securely around Draco's waist for comfort. Harry would make sure that Crabbe and Goyle knew that they had done wrong. They would be scrubbing pots, then the floor. He would make them organize the potions ingredients but he didn't trust their clumsy hands with possibly volatile ingredients.

Draco hadn't minded the kiss, it had brought an odd smile to his face. He wasn't hungry during dinner. He watched Harry tuck in and sat in front of his food, his smile morphing into a scowl.

Weren't the jeers supposed to stop when you were a teacher? The whispers behind your back? The foul rumors that could cause the loss of your status? Were all the thoughts running through his head.

He would often hear his name muttered around the hall when he came in for meals before the potions mix up. He was surprised to still hear his name mentioned every once in a while. The same name that all the students had used before the mix up. Malfoy. He knew that the Malfoy name wasn't a great one - he wasn't stupid. But he did think that being a teacher would pardon his family for its pattering in the dark arts.

Draco wondered what his parents were like now. Hermione had mentioned that at least his father had been at the wedding. That has to mean that he's changed. There's no way the Lucius Malfoy I know would ever come to my wedding with Harry bloody Potter.

Harry noticed the shift in Draco's mood and let out a soft sigh. He leaned in close to Draco's ear and whispered, "How about after you watch Crabbe and Goyle look silly while scrubbing, we go back to our room and eat some of the ice cream I found in the fridge?" He felt Draco shiver a little as his breath ghosted across Draco's face.

Draco let a goofy smile cross his face at both of those prospects. "That sounds perfect," he said as he took in a breath. Harry knew just how to make him happy. Draco wondered if he and Harry would have been dating if they had given each other a chance when they first met instead of jumping right into a rivalry.

They stood to walk from the hall. "Crabbe, Goyle, get to the potions classroom as soon as you finish dinner," Harry barked at them. He sent a glare to the first year Ravenclaws, getting his point across to the two first years that he'd put in detention.

Draco and Harry didn't bother to stop at their apartment before going to the potions classroom. "Think you could help me? Madam Pomfrey is running out of pepperup potions and asked me to make more," Harry explained. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"You can't make a pepperup potion?" Draco asked, giving Harry an incredulous look. Harry shrugged his shoulders bashfully. He could make one, just not anywhere near perfectly. "Alright, fine. I'll make your potions," Draco said, trying to feign anger but instead cracking a small smile at how inept Harry truly was at potions.

Draco got started on the pepperup potions while Crabbe, Goyle, and the two frightened Ravenclaws came in. Harry had set two pieces of parchment at two separate desks for the first years. All they would have to do was write lines.

"You two," he snapped. "You're writing lines. Get to it." He motioned to the two tables set up. "Crabbe and Goyle, you'll scrub all the pots, then the floor. You'll stay here until ten, but if you're not finished then you'll be back tomorrow. And if I hear so much as a peep from either of you, I'll make you scrub the transfigurations classroom spotless," Harry commanded. Both of them jumped at his thundering voice, going to the cauldrons and finding a bucket of soapy water and brushes. Harry let a small smirk settle on his face.

After watching them for a good twenty minutes, he went into a back room and found Draco still working on the potion.

Draco flashed him a smile. "Thanks," he said, referring to the punishment he had given Crabbe and Goyle.

"It was a shitty thing they did," Harry said with a shrug. He still returned Draco's smile. "How's the potion?" He asked.

"Almost finished. This should be enough for Madam Pomfrey," he explained as he started to bottle the potion.

"Is it perfect?" Harry asked as he leaned against the door.

"I believe Snape would say, 'Outstanding work, Mr. Malfoy, I must say I'm impressed.'" Draco tried to copy the man's angry and biting voice, which sent Harry into fits of laughter.

"Oh, I'm sure that he would say just that," Harry chuckled.

Draco grinned as he bottled the last bit of the liquid. "Alright, I suppose now I get to watch Crabbe and Goyle scrubbing pots," Draco said with a small smile. The two walked back out into the main classroom. Crabbe had an extremely pissed look on his face when he saw that Draco was also there. Draco took pride in that and let a soft smirk grace his lips.

Harry pulled up a chair so they could both sit at his desk and read while watching Crabbe and Goyle.

Eventually, the two Ravenclaws finished and Harry sent them away. He didn't know what he was supposed to do with their parchments that they wrote lines on. He leaned over to Draco to ask him, so Crabbe and Goyle wouldn't hear. "What do I do with this?" He asked.

Draco looked just as puzzled as Harry did. "I'm not sure. My first thought would be to throw them away," Draco said with a shrug. Harry realized that that was actually a pretty reasonable answer; he never saw teachers file them away or anything. Harry leaned over and dropped them in the garbage bin with a small half-smile on his face.

The whole day had been kind of exciting. Putting kids in detention, telling them to write lines or scrub pots, and throwing away something that a student worked for an hour on. Harry had always thought that their professors just did stuff like that because it was their job, not because it was kind of fun.

It was nearing ten and Harry was actually kind of surprised that the two hadn't said anything. They were halfway done with scrubbing the floor by now.

"Alright, you two can go. If I find out you were loitering in the halls, it's more detention. Be careful on your way back. You wouldn't want to get caught after curfew by another teacher," Harry said. The two quickly put the scrubbing brushes and buckets away.

"You're not going to escort us back?" Crabbe asked, hoping to avoid a different teacher giving them more detention if they were caught after curfew.

"What are you, toddlers? I don't think I need to help you back," Harry said with a glare, and the two scurried away.

Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry. "Wow, that was harsh," he commented.

Harry shrugged. "I think it's the Snape in me," he said with a chuckle as he shut the book he'd been reading before holding out a hand for Draco to take. Draco stood with Harry's help and the two walked back to their apartment with their hands clasped.

"So, you mentioned ice cream?" Draco asked as soon as they walked in.

Harry rolled his eyes but nodded. "How about we shower and get into more comfortable clothes first?" Harry offered. Draco nodded, walking off to the bathroom. Harry watched him as he walked away. He does have as much grace as the Queen of England. He thought, though Harry had no idea how the Queen of England actually walked.

Harry got into his boxers and tee shirt before grabbing the ice cream. He figured he could just shower in the morning, since it seemed like Draco really wanted that ice cream.

He heard the shower head turn off and then it was just a few moments before Draco was padding to the bedroom in his pajamas, throwing his clothes from earlier that day into the hamper.

Draco grinned when he saw the tub of Moose Tracks ice cream. "That's my favorite," Draco announced, which made Harry smile. Draco didn't seem to be in as bad of a mood as he had been in earlier.

Harry was sitting above the covers but Draco immediately got under them, and Harry handed him a spoon for the dessert.

Draco took a huge bite and filled his mouth as Harry started talking. "So, why did Crabbe and Goyle get your panties in such a twist?" Harry asked teasingly, he hoped that the smile on his face would show that he didn't mean it as a jab.

Draco let a scowl cross his face as he swallowed the ice cream. "Because as pompous as this sounds, they're my lackeys. I barely even understand why. But they do almost everything for me," Draco explained. Harry had picked up on most of that. He thought it was a bit sad that even though Draco was always surrounded by groups of people, he never had any real friends as it seemed.

"But now they're not. I think they're McGonagall's body guards now," Harry said. They seemed to trail her just as much as they had Draco.

"And that's pissing me off! Or how would you put it? Getting my panties in a twist?" Draco asked with a cheeky smile before taking another bite of the ice cream. Harry thought that it was odd hearing that phrase coming from Draco. It brought forth a slight chuckle from him.

"Maybe we ought to get you some real friends after everything is set back to normal," Harry offered. Draco rolled his eyes.

"I have real friends, like Blaise and Pansy, and if you think I'm going to make nice with a weasel then you're dead wrong." Draco explained with narrowed eyes.

Harry didn't even really notice the jab at his best friend. He and Draco had made nice (at least for now) and Harry wasn't going to ruin that by calling him a wanker just for insulting Ron. "I'm not saying that you need to hang out with Ron, but at least there'll be Hermione. You haven't seemed to hate her so fervently as of late," Harry pointed out.

Draco shrugged. "I suppose Hermione's nice, but she only likes me now because I'm a nice teacher," Draco grumbled. "I'm actually a slimy git and still would be if I wasn't even slightly acting like McGonagall."

"Well, if Hermione doesn't want to be your friend then I still will be, right?" Harry asked. He hadn't really considered how that would all work out. They get in a potions accident and then boom, they're friends? Everyone would think they'd gone barmy.

Draco looked a bit hesitant to answer the question. "I don't know. How would we explain me suddenly calling you 'Harry' instead of 'Potter'? I don't think that after we get this all figured out we can go right into being friends like this again. We'll have to ease the whole bloody school into it. I know for a fact that your friends are going to say that I'm just using you," Draco said, his scowl deepening as he spoke.

Harry took the initiative to put an arm around Draco's shoulders.

"I'm sure it will all work out. It's not like we're going to go back to being enemies when this is fixed," Harry assured him. He would hate that, since they had made so much progress recently.

Draco nodded but didn't look completely convinced. Harry tried to think of a way to cheer him up.

"Do you know what this weekend is?" Harry asked with a small smirk on his lips.

Draco furrowed his brows. This weekend? What could it be - Oh! Hogsmeade! This weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend, so Harry and Draco would get to leave the castle for once.

"Thank Merlin it's a Hogsmeade weekend. I don't think I could stay cooped up in here for a moment longer, even if we still have to watch out for troublemakers and act like professors out there too," Draco said with a smile. As long as they were able to get out for the weekend, he was happy.

"I'm sure we can sneak away from the students for a while. It would be kind of weird seeing our friends with Snape and McGonagall anyway," Harry explained. He'd seen all of them walking around together, but at Hogsmeade it was different. They'd be pulling each other to different shops and talking excitedly and such. He hoped that he and Draco could have just as good of a time together.

"You'd better not start a fight. I want to enjoy myself," Draco announced. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Us not fighting? I don't think that's possible," Harry said with a playful smile on his lips.

It used to be the truth, but the two had made leaps and bounds in their relationship. Harry was sure that they would be fine.

"It had better be possible, because if we don't figure out this problem we'll have to stay here over the break," Draco whined. Christmas break was the weekend after next.

"Don't remind me," Harry said as he took his first bite of the ice cream, about a third of which Draco had already eaten.

The two continued talking about pointless things as they finished the ice cream. Both of them were groaning about how full they were even as they continued to eat.

Both of them fell asleep, with Harry's arm wrapped around Draco.


	5. 5

For the rest of the week, whenever Harry and Draco got on each other's nerves they would both think about the Hogsmeade weekend coming up. They had gotten on each other's nerves plenty of times.

They didn't agree when it came to studying and trying to learn as much as they could so they could switch back. Harry wanted to leave it all to Snape, while Draco wanted to put in his fair share of help.

Other things they couldn't agree on were all the muggle devices that Harry had scattered throughout the house. Other than the alarm clock, they had a muggle fridge,  _microwave_ , and even bloody washing and drying machines. Draco hated anything muggle, while Harry said that it made him feel closer to the world he grew up in.

Oddly enough, neither of them gave each other shit for the three more kisses they'd had that week. Both of the boys refused to talk to each other about them, but still neither could say that they'd hated the kisses.

On Wednesday, Draco had stolen a kiss.

_"It's so nice to eat outside," Harry said with a sigh. He, Hermione, and Ron would often eat outside, which was nice, but for some reason that Harry couldn't really explain, this was better. Being with Draco was nice and peaceful._

_Draco, with a mouth full of food, simply nodded his response._

_Harry sat up from his position of laying on the grass and set his empty plate beside him. A house elf quickly swooped it up._

_Draco finished his as well and stretched his arms above his head. He took a glance to either side of him before planting his hands on the grass and leaning forward to peck Harry on this lips - only a peck though - then pulled away. Harry looked incredibly embarrassed at this but wished it could have gone on longer. He would never tell Draco that, though, of course. Maybe Harry would have to steal his own kiss._

On Tuesday, the kiss had been consensual.

_Both boys had just left the Great Hall after arriving to dinner late. Students milled around them, loitering in the hallways for a while until they would get shooed to their dormitories._

_"If I was really a teacher, I wouldn't bust kids for stealing kisses in the alcoves; it's much too fun to snog there," Draco said as he noticed two Gryffindors half hidden in an alcove._

_"You've kissed in one of them before?" Harry asked, and blushed as he saw the students._

_Draco nodded. "Of course. It's all part of the Hogwarts experience, Harry," he said with a grin. Harry pursed his lips. He'd never kissed in an alcove; he'd never even thought of that._

_"Wouldn't it be embarrassing to get caught?" Harry asked. He couldn't even imagine someone like Professor Snape pulling him away from some girl (or guy) he'd been snogging._

_Draco shrugged. "That's part of the fun. You get to sate the exhibitionist in you," Draco explained._

_"Isn't kissing in broad daylight enough?" Harry asked. The whole idea was new to him._

_Draco chuckled. "Of course not. Kissing in broad daylight is something that's accepted. Snogging in a school alcove when you're not supposed to and someone could easily catch you is completely different," Draco said with an eye roll. "Imagine a plain vanilla kiss in a park, compared to someone palming you under the school tables. It gives your body a different reaction to each thought, right?" Draco asked._

_Harry shrugged. He hadn't had that many plain vanilla kisses, so he couldn't really compare. Draco let out a sigh and took Harry by the hand, quickly pulling him aside and into one of the tiny little alcoves._

_"Kiss me," Draco demanded. Harry looked hesitant, but finally gave in under Draco's intense gaze and leaned in to press his lips lightly against Draco's._

_Draco's hands went around Harry's waist, and Harry's around Draco's neck, as the two moved their lips softly against one another's._

_Draco had been right; Harry was feeling a different reaction to this type of kiss. This was naughty and dangerous. The feeling sent sparks down Harry's spine and when the two pulled away, Harry felt a definite reaction from that kiss that he hadn't gotten from most of the other kisses._

_"Now, when everything gets back to normal you can show your innocent little weasel girl how to really kiss," Draco said with a smirk as they both stepped out. The reaction in Harry's pants was gone at the mention of Ginny._

On Friday, Harry stole a kiss.

_"I can't believe we woke up so late," Harry said with a groan as the two walked out of their apartment. Draco had woken him up on the couch at six fifty instead of at six, as per usual._

_"I know, sorry. I guess that alarm clock is a little more reliable than the quiet magic reminder I had set," Draco said with a small shrug and a bashful blush. He had been incredibly frantic when he'd woken up the morning and realized that they were late._

_Harry smirked when Draco said that the alarm clock was better. The halls were filled with students who were running a bit late for breakfast and a few sweaty Quidditch players who had gotten a little extra practice in. It was the crowd that Harry and Draco probably would have been in if it weren't for the potions incident._

_Both boys missed Quidditch quite a bit. Harry wondered if Snape had his broom, and if he was taking care of it. The thought of Snape using his broom made him frown slightly._

_"Thinking about your broom?" Draco asked with a playful smile on his lips._

_Harry nodded. "Yeah."_

_"Me too. McGonagall told me that she hadn't even touched it in fear that she would break it," Draco said with a chuckle._

_The thought made Harry laugh as well. Without thinking he leaned down, steadied his hands on Draco's shoulders, and pressed a soft kiss to his lips that only lasted for a moment._

_"No more alcove kissing?" Draco asked with a smirk._

_"Not this early in the morning."_

* * *

"Alright, so Hogsmeade isn't the greatest place to go when you're a professor," Harry said rather sullenly after their second hour in the little town rolled around. Draco and Harry had to be here almost all day and watch students.

"I hate candy, but I'm dying to go into Honeydukes just for the sake of doing something," Draco groaned as he stared at the bustling candy store.

"You don't like candy?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Not cheap candy, I have high tastes," Draco said with a shrug.

"Alright, so it would seem weird if we went to Honeydukes. What about the Three Broomsticks? I'm sure we could slip away for a short lunch," Harry offered. Draco grinned at the idea.

"You're paying, though," Draco added as they started to walk towards the inn.

"Draco, we're married. We share money," Harry said with a chuckle.

The Three Broomsticks wasn't the nicest place, but it had good food. Even though the Hogwarts food was amazing, it was easy to get used to the meals after a while.

Harry and Draco took a seat in a back corner booth, making sure that students wouldn't be able to hear them if they spoke.

"I got a letter today. An owl came this morning; you missed it," Draco explained as he pulled a sealed envelope out of his pocket. It was a little crumpled, but other then that was fine.

"Who's it from?" Harry asked with a raised brow.

Their conversation was cut short by a waitress who came and took their order. She obviously knew both boys, as she addressed them by name. Harry had to awkwardly pretend that they knew exactly who she was.

Harry recognized her, of course. He'd been here plenty of times before, but he didn't personally know any of the wait staff here. Draco, however, saved them. He knew the young woman's name, which made Harry breathe a sigh of relief.

"It's nice seeing you two in the village. You haven't been by recently," she said with a small frown that quickly turned into a smile. She was a very bouncy and energetic-looking girl.

"Sorry, Taryn. I'm sure we'll be in town more often," Draco promised, making the girl beam before she bounced away.

"My God, she was totally into you," Harry said with an eye roll. "Doesn't anyone in the bloody wizarding world understand that you're married?" Harry asked, jealously creeping into his voice even though he didn't mean for it to.

"A lot of girls are into me. I'm a catch," Draco said with a chuckle.

"How do you know her anyway?" Harry asked.

Draco shrugged. "Isn't it simply polite to know everyone's name?" Draco asked. Harry had never even thought of that; he never really knew that many people.

"I guess," Harry responded with a shrug. It must be a pureblood thing to know a lot of names.

"Alright, back to the letter. It's from my parents, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. I haven't opened it yet, but I have an idea what it could be about," Draco said with a small sigh.

"And what's that?" Harry asked with his nose scrunched up. He couldn't remember ever meeting Narcissa and all of his memory's of Lucius were fowl. He couldn't imagine having to be their son-in-law or, worse, their actual son.

"Well, they might want us to stay at the manor over Christmas break," Draco explained. He popped the seal on the letter to pull out a piece of parchment with two messages scrawled on it, both in different handwriting and of varying lengths.

"Seriously? I don't know if I could do that. I mean, they're  _Malfoys_ ," Harry emphasized. Draco scowled at him.

Draco held up the letter to read it and his face sunk even more. "Hell, they do want us to stay over," Draco said as he handed the letter to Harry.

_Draco and Harry Potter-Malfoy,_

_Narcissa and I would be overjoyed if the two of you would spend your Christmas Break at the manor. Your bedroom is still intact from that last time you stayed, so please consider it._

_Lucius A. Malfoy._

_You boys had better come to stay with us. Draco, your father may not show it but he misses you dearly. Harry, please try to convince Draco that you two should come. I know I can rely on you._

_We're having a small party on Christmas Day. I know that Harry, you don't like gatherings like this so I've been speaking with Molly Weasley. Hopefully you can spend Christmas Eve with Lucius and I, and Christmas Day at the burrow. Please send us an owl as soon as you can._

_I love you both dearly,_

_Narcissa. (Mom.)_

Harry let the letter drop out of his hands onto the table.

"Those people aren't my parents. My father said the words 'overjoyed' and 'please'! And my mother signed it with 'Mom'!" Draco practically yelled, but lowered his voice when he noticed that he was attracting quite a bit of attention.

Harry was still reeling over spending part of his break at the burrow! "Narcissa mentioned that she was speaking with _Molly Weasley!_ " Harry exclaimed. He slumped back in his seat as Taryn brought their food to them. She looked at both of them in confusion but didn't question the peculiar looks on their faces.

"Does that mean that instead of being friends with Ron and them, you're friends with Molly and Arthur?" Draco asked, trying to process everything in his head. "That doesn't make any sense; they're  _still_  a lot older than us." Draco was pretty much speaking to himself.

Harry piped up. "Maybe not," he said in a small voice, Draco raised an eyebrow, urging him to go on. "I mean, we just kind of expected that we only aged a bit, but Snape and McGongall are now the ages that we once were. Maybe we're closer in age to Molly and Arthur than we think. I'm ruling out the possibility of us having been in the same class, but it is possible that when they were seventh years we were first years," Harry explained.

"You're saying that we're almost forty?" Draco hissed, trying to keep his voice down. Draco hadn't really thought about it. Both of them looked like they were in their late twenties or early thirties. "Even if we were, that wouldn't explain why a seventh year would be friends with a first year," Draco pointed out.

Harry didn't have an answer for that one, other than Molly and Arthur's welcoming personalities. When he was a first year, the seventh years had scared him, but Molly just seemed to be a natural mother to him. If she had strung along Arthur with her, then it made sense that they would have been friends with a couple of first years.

"Back to the matter at hand, though, are we going to stay with my parents for Christmas break or not?" Draco asked.

Harry shrugged. He didn't want to at all, but he supposed that they probably should. "We should go. Lucius may even know something about our situation," Harry pointed out.

Ron chose that moment to interrupt them. "Professors?" He called, standing a little ways away from the table. This was the first time that Ron had spoken to either of them outside of class. Harry was a little bit dumbstruck.

"What is it, Mr. Weasley?" Draco asked, regaining his composure faster than Harry.

"Well, Mum owled me today and asked if you two have decided whether or not you were going to stay at the burrow for part of the break," Ron asked timidly. He didn't look that excited about his professors staying at his house.

Harry shot Draco a look. This would be hard for him. Harry had always been close with Arthur and Molly, but never on a level where he would rather hang out with them instead of their sons. The thought was almost preposterous to him.

Draco gave a soft nod. He took into consideration the panicked look on Harry's face, but for now he decided that they would just accept the invitation. If Harry was still having apprehensions about it later, they could think of some way to cancel their plans.

"Yeah, tell Molly and Arthur that we'll definitely be there," Draco said with a small smile. Harry nodded in agreement, not wanting to talk with Ron.

"Alright, I'll owl them right away then," Ron said before turning to walk away. He kept the conversation short and concise, not wanting to prolong his conversation with the professors.

"Oh, Merlin," Harry said as he rested his face in his hands. "I don't know how I'm going to do this," he groaned.

Draco reached a hand across the table and pulled one of Harry's hands to hold it tightly. "Don't worry about it, Harry. We'll figure it out," he reassured with a half smile on his face. "Now, are we going to eat this food or let it get cold?" Draco asked, and Harry finally noticed the steaming plate sitting in front of him.

Harry pulled his hand away from Draco before he tucked in.

"I guess it's not as bad as it could be," Harry grumbled between mouthfuls.

"And how could it be any worse?" Draco asked with an amused smirk on his face.

"At least bloody Rita Skeeter isn't here," Harry groaned. Draco nodded.

Harry had had too many awkward run-ins with the woman, and as they were Hogwarts' only married couple - not to mention the fact that they were both men - they were sure to have been a hot topic; especially with Harry being the son of Lily and James Potter and Draco being a  _Malfoy_.

"You're going to wish you hadn't said that. You just jinxed yourself," Draco warned, and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Jinxed myself, really? What are you, a five-year-ol -" Harry was cut off by the last voice in the world that he wanted to hear.

"Harry and Draco Potter-Malfoy!" The most annoying voice in the entire world drawled out as none other then bloody Rita Skeeter waltzed towards them.

Harry groaned. "What do you want, Skeeter?" He asked as she brought out her note pad to jot everything down.

"Well, no one's heard from you two for a while. Just wondering how the wizarding world's favorite Hogwarts couple has been doing," she explained with an innocent look on her face.

"We're fine," Draco grumbled.

"Oooh, acting aggressively. I'll take your expression to say, ' _Not doing so good,_ '" she said, her quill quickly scribbling a few things down.

"Seriously, Skeeter, our relationship is perfectly fine." Harry tried to get back on her good side, and reached across the table to grab Draco's hand.

"Well, now it looks like you're just pretending simply because I'm here," Rita said.

"Bloody hell, woman," Draco said - a rare curse word thrown at somebody other than Harry.

"Moving on with the questions, I heard you two had a fight? What was that about?" She asked.  _How the hell does Rita Skeeter know that we had a spat?_  Draco thought. He didn't really think any student would leak that information.

"We just had a disagreement," Draco replied curtly.

"A disagreement? Those can lead to divorce," she pondered aloud, and Harry was practically tearing his hair out as she spoke.

"We're not thinking about divorcing," Harry tried to explain, but to no avail.

"That's all I needed. Thanks, boys. Don't worry, this isn't front page stuff. Though I will make sure that you get mentioned," she said with a wink before walking away.

"She's barmy," Draco muttered.

"How did that even work? I just mentioned her name and she was here!" Harry said with a sigh.

"She's a bloody witch," Draco muttered. Even if witches weren't that odd of an occurrence, Harry still got the point.

"We should get back to patrolling Hogsmeade," Draco muttered with a sigh.

* * *

"What do I write in a letter to your parents?" Harry asked as he sat in front of a piece of parchment. Draco was just getting out of the shower and was towel drying his hair.

"First of all, your handwriting is atrocious so I'm writing it. And secondly? I have absolutely no idea," Draco admitted. He pulled up a chair next to Harry at the office desk. Draco pulled the parchment towards himself and grabbed a self-inking quill.

_Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy,_  Draco started, but Harry said that it was ridiculous so Draco scratched it out. This would clearly have to be a first draft.

"Call them 'Mother and Father,'" Harry offered. Draco crinkled his nose.

_Mother and Father,_

_Harry and I would love to visit the two of you over Christmas break. We have sent word to Molly Weasley telling her that we will be arriving on Christmas Day. We look forward to spending Christmas eve with-_

Draco was cut off mid-sentence by Harry, "'We look forward to spending Christmas eve with you'? Really? You sound so stiff," Harry said. Draco sighed.

"Alright, fine. I'll fix it."

_Harry and I are both overjoyed to get to spend Christmas eve with you._

_With love,_

_Harry and Draco Potter-Malfoy._

"Alright, how's that?" Draco asked. He would need to rewrite it so that it wasn't full of crossed off lines, but other than that he felt it was fine.

"I guess it's alright," Harry agreed. He thought that it still sounded a little formal for a letter to his parents, but he himself had never sent a letter to them before so who was he to judge.

"I'll send it off in the morning," Draco promised. "Why don't you write up a letter to Molly and Arthur? Just keep it to the basics," Draco said. Harry grabbed another piece of parchment before scribbling down a letter to the two.

* * *

"We should share a bed. We have to get used to it before we go off to the manor. Can't have us getting in a fight over you hogging the blankets," Draco grumbled. Harry agreed. They had shared a bed a couple days ago when they fell asleep after eating the ice cream, but Harry hadn't even been under the covers.

Harry sat down on the edge of the bed. He had just finished getting dressed and Draco was already under the covers with a book. "Don't steal the blankets and don't try to feel me."

"I won't steal the blankets, but I can't promise that I won't cop a feel," Harry said with a cheeky grin. He was still just barely okay with kissing Draco.

"Twat," Draco muttered and held the blankets up for him. Harry slid under the covers and got comfortable. Draco set his book on the nightstand.

Even after the light was turned off, Harry couldn't get to sleep. He listened to the soft sound of Draco's breathing for the longest time. Harry couldn't tell if Draco was still asleep or not; his breathing was shallow but not incredibly steady.

After Harry was pretty sure that Draco was asleep, he leaned over and put one hand on Draco's hip. He wasn't spooning him - he left a good several inches in between them. Just maintaining that little contact was what he was yearning for.

Draco reached his hand up to rest it over Harry's, a bright blush coming to his cheeks. It was odd to be so close to someone when you were sleeping. Sleeping was supposed to be a time when you were completely alone with your thoughts. They both still had their own thoughts, but Draco couldn't find it in himself to think about Harry at all with the man right behind him.

Harry was also blushing slightly after Draco put his hand where his was. Harry had only meant it as a way of maintaining contact rather then as a gesture. Draco had obviously taken it as a meaningful gesture, so Harry decided to really make it one.

Harry rubbed his thumb softly on Draco's hip, making Draco shiver a bit under his touch.

"Good night, Harry," Draco mumbled.

"Good night, Draco," Harry responded. He hoped that they could unwind like this every day after classes for the next week or so - at least until Snape figured out how to reverse this. Next week would be full of testing, so this would be a nice way to just relax after school.

Harry hoped that when everything went back to normal they could still share these soft yet intimate touches.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where it starts to get explicit btw

Neither Snape nor McGonagall could find the time to work on their predicament this week. Snape was a little mad that Harry and Draco were ditching on studying with them to go to the Malfoys' manor over the break.

Harry and Draco had stayed in the same room pretty much all week, with minimal complaints from either of them. Harry had found that Draco was the actual blanket hog. He loved to use Draco as a pillow. Sometimes they would fall asleep on completely opposite sides of the bed and wake up with Harry wrapped around Draco.

"Are you all ready to go?" Draco asked, holding a small trunk of clothing for the stay. Harry nodded, holding a similar one.

Most of the students had already left. Only a few remained behind for the holidays.

"How are we going to get to the manor?" Harry asked as they walked through the castle and towards the main entrance.

"Once we clear the gates, I can apparate us to outside the Malfoy manor," Draco explained.

"What? You don't have a licence! How can you apparate us safely?" Harry asked as they neared the front gates. He hated apparition. Harry barely even knew how to do it. Dumbledore had always said something about the three D's. Harry had never thought that he would use apparition when he was older.

"I do have my licence. I checked a few days ago, and of course I know how to apparate. I'm a Malfoy," Draco said with a small shrug and a smirk at Harry's frown. "Now come on, give me your hand." Draco held out his hand and Harry took it.

Within moments, they had apparated away.

When they appeared at Malfoy manor, Harry lurched forward. Draco just barely caught him before he fell, just barely missing the stream of vomit that came from Harry.

"Geez, you would think this was your first time," Draco said with a raised brow as Harry wiped his mouth and sent him a scowl.

"Shut up," Harry mumbled. Draco kept his arm firmly around Harry's waist in case of any residual effects.

Harry was still a bit wobbly as they walked through the gates and up towards the front steps of the manor. "Why is your house so big?" Harry whispered.

"I'm not sure, but you'd better get used to it  _quickly_ , Harry," Draco snapped.

Harry had only ever heard of the grandeur of the Malfoy Manor. He could hardly believe that Draco lived in this bloody castle. The walk to the front doors took them at least five minutes. When they arrived at the entrance the doors swung inward, seemingly without anyone having opened them.

"Merlin," Harry muttered quietly as he glanced around. It was a rather dark house with only deep colors painting the walls. The furniture and decorations scattered around reminded Harry of their apartment. They definitely weren't as modern as Draco's furnishings, but they had a high sense of style to them.

Harry was surprised at how empty the house was as well. No house elves were scurrying about, nor were people rushing to greet them. There was just silence.

"Draco? Harry?" He heard a voice coming from a room to his right. Draco steered them in that direction.

Inside a large room was a long dining room table with two people sitting at it.

"Mother, Father," Draco greeted. He flashed them a small smile. Harry had to force himself to grin at them when really he wanted to vomit at just being in the same room as them.

"Oh dear, Harry, you look pale," Narcissa cooed and prodded Harry with long nails with a worried look on her face. "Draco, did you let him get sick?" She asked in a very motherly tone. The only person he could think to relate her to was Molly Weasley, and Harry definitely hadn't expected that. Even Draco looked a little confused.

"He's fine, he's just not good with apparition," Draco explained and pressed his lips lightly to the top of Harry's head. Harry almost vomited again at the feeling of Draco kissing him. Usually he would be fine with it - they were supposed to be married - but in this setting Harry hated it.

Narcissa didn't look convinced, but moved aside as Lucius Malfoy walked towards them. Lucius looked much older than what Harry remembered; he had graying hair now and a few more wrinkles. It made sense, though. Draco was quite a bit older, which meant that they had to older.

"It's good to see you both," Lucius said as he pulled Draco into a hug and Harry into a half hug. Draco looked downright frightened at the prospect of his father hugging him. "Hmmm," Lucius started and furrowed his brows. "You both look a bit tired. How about you go settle into your rooms and meet us for dinner in an hour?" Lucius suggested. Harry breathed out a small sigh of relief at being able to get away from Lucius and Narcissa.

"Sounds wonderful, we'll see you two in about an hour," Draco assured. He steered Harry back the way they had come.

After they walked for a while and Draco was sure that they were out of his parents' earshot, he asked, "Do you feel like you're going to vomit again?" Harry shook his head; he was feeling better.

"How do you know where we're going," Harry asked. They had walked up too many staircases and down too many corridors for him to even begin remembering how to get back to where they were.

"I'm just guessing that we're staying in my room," Draco explained as they came to a stop in front of a door. Draco pushed it open.

The room behind the door was obviously decorated by Draco. The furnishing were modern and closely resembled their home at Hogwarts, right down to a sleek alarm clock on the bedside table.

"This is huge," Harry muttered. There were several doors going off in different direction throughout the room.

"Yeah. Door to the right is the bathroom, the two on the left are the office and a potions lab," Draco explained. He set his trunk down on the bed. Harry followed suit. "Don't make a mess in here. It may be our shared room, but it's still my room," Draco warned. Harry held up his hands in submission.

"I'm not that messy," he said with a small smirk.

"I'm going to hop in the shower real quick. I guess you can take a look around and unpack your stuff. Oh, and Molly Weasley wrote back to you. It's in my trunk," Draco said before walking towards the bathroom.

"You really like to take my mail, don't you?" Harry asked with an incredulous look on his face. Draco just winked at him before disappearing into the bathroom. Harry was starting to feel immensely better. Earlier, he had just been nervous with Draco because they were with Draco's parents. It was easier now to feel comfortable with him. Harry would have to try to act more naturally around Lucius and Narcissa.

Harry grabbed Draco's trunk and pulled the letter out, scrawled in Molly's loopy handwriting.

_Harry,_

_Arthur and I are excited to have you and Draco staying with us. The only two who haven't come around to see that you're not a 'creepy dungeon bat' are Ron and Ginny. I expect your stay to be more pleasant than years past. Fred and George are ecstatic to show their godparents the wacky potions they've been working on. The rest of your godchildren are also happy to see you two again. As I mentioned before, Ron and Ginny are still odd on the idea but they'll turn out just like the rest of them have._

_I hope you have been eating well. Make sure Draco gets some meat on his bones and don't either of you go catching any colds._

_We'll have a Christmas feast at noon, but we're opening presents at nine. I hope to see you by then._

_With love,_

_Molly (and Arthur) Weasley_.

Harry stared at the letter until he heard the water turn off in the shower, then the letter went up in flames. He lay back on the bed with a sigh.

"Hey, Harry, did I hear something?" Draco asked, walking out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and drying his hair with another towel.

"Just Molly's letter going up in flames. It's so frustrating. It said right in the letter that Ron and Ginny think I'm a creepy dungeon bat," Harry said. Draco walked over, taking a seat next to him on the bed.

"Sorry, that's awful," Draco said with a small frown on his face. "Did it say anything else?" He asked.

Harry nodded. "Apparently we're the godparents of every Weasley kid," Harry said as he ran a hand through his hair.

Draco crinkled his nose. "Really? That sounds horrible," he muttered and lay back on the bed next to Harry.

Harry elbowed him in the ribs softly. "And we have to be there at nine; that's when they're opening presents."

Draco sneered. "We have to buy them presents?" He asked.

"I would say no, but since we're the kids godparents I think it's expected," Harry said with a shrug. Draco groaned.

"Alright, we'll go shopping in a few days. Just let me get dressed, you actually unpack, and we'll go down dinner."

* * *

By five o'clock the two of them had winded their way back through all the halls, Draco making sure that Harry kept close to him, and ended up back at the dining room.

"I'm never going to get used to this place." Harry muttered, even though he'd only been in it for about an hour.

Harry could smell the food before they got to the dining room and found that the table had shrunk a sizable amount. It had gone from what seemed like table that seated a dozen to one that seated two on one side and two on the other.

"Wow," Draco whispered to himself. "My father's not sitting at the head of the table?"

They took their seats, Draco and Harry next to each other while Narcissa chirped away and took her seat next to Lucius. She was very talkative. Draco seemed to think it was peculiar that she was just talking about every little thing, pretty much holding a one-sided conversation while the rest of them ate.

"So, how have classes been going?" Narcissa finally addressed a question to the two of them.

At almost the same time they said, "Fine." They weren't just going to say exactly what they felt about those classes.

"I saw that article in the newspaper that Skeeter wrote. What was that about?" Lucius piped up. Harry let a frown settle on his face. He didn't think that she would actually publish that article.

Harry couldn't think of a way to answer, but thankfully Draco was able to play it off. "We had a disagreement about something stupid, I can't even remember what. One thing led to another and we had to be disarmed. I had to use an episkey spell on Harry. It was nothing serious," Draco said with a shrug, then added, "Skeeter blew it way out of proportion."

"The nerve of that woman, saying that you were going to file a divorce," Lucius spat. Narcissa put a hand on his arm, giving him a look to soothe his worries.

"It's fine, nothing to get riled up about," Draco assured. He also put his hand over Harry's. Harry glanced over at Draco and flashed him a small smile, glad for the friendly gesture. Draco's touches always had a soothing effect.

"What about your anniversary?" Narcissa changed the subject. "That's coming up. The fifth of January, right? What are you doing for it?" Narcissa asked. Draco and Harry shared a look, it was easy to forget that they'd actually had a wedding.

"Probably just go out somewhere. Maybe abroad," Draco said with a small shrug of his shoulders. Harry had to take a moment to appreciate just how good of an actor Draco was. Harry probably would have just sat there stumped for a while trying to think.

Narcissa seemed pleased with the answer and jumped back into her rambling about oddities and things that Harry honestly didn't care about.

* * *

"It's hard to believe that we had a wedding," Harry said as he lay on the bed, still fully clothed and waiting for Draco to come out of the bathroom.

"I wonder if you wore a dress," Draco said with a smirk as he walked out with his pajamas on. They had been sharing a bed for the past week and had had very few quarrels, so they figured that they would be fine with staying in this much larger bed. The one at their home in Hogwarts was seemingly made for snuggling.

Harry stuck out his tongue at Draco and grabbed his pajamas before disappearing into the bathroom. In the meantime, Draco set about looking through his room, looking for any of his possessions that might still be there and the like.

In one of the wardrobes, sitting on the bottom was something that he wasn't expecting to find - a rather dusty photo album. Draco pulled it out and read the writing inscribed on the front.

_Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter - Wedding._

Draco smirked lightly as he carried it over to the bed and sat down cross-legged with it.  _This is bound to be interesting,_  he thought as he opened it to the first page.

The moving pictures hurt his eye for a moment until he started focusing on them.

The first few pictures were obviously from before the actual wedding. There were a few of Harry and Draco in separate rooms getting ready, both of them with huge smiles on their faces.

Harry came out of the bathroom then, drying his hair and wearing his silk boxers and tee shirt. "What's that?" Harry asked and took a seat next to Draco.

"Out wedding photos." Draco replied and turned the page to see all the members of the wedding party.

"Is that Molly and Arthur Weasley?" Harry pointed to the couple who looked a few years younger than Harry knew them as. The picture was probably taken just four years ago.

"It looks like Arthur was your best man and Molly was my best, er, _woman_ ," Draco said and scoured the picture. There were several Weasleys in it. It looked like all the Weasleys who weren't in Hogwarts at the time of the wedding were either standing with Draco or Harry.

"This is crazy," Harry muttered. Draco turned the page to see the Great Hall of Hogwarts. "We got married at Hogwarts?" Harry asked, a bit dumbfounded to see the beautifully decorated dining hall. A red carpet was laid down in the middle and at the end. Where the podium would usually be, Harry and Draco stood in black suits. The tables had been turned into pews and it looked like every student at Hogwarts had attended.

"It makes sense that Hermione was at it now," Draco muttered. He spotted his mother and father standing slightly behind him at the altar.

"You look like a girl," Harry commented as he looked closely at the picture. Draco had to admit that from behind he did look a bit like a girl.

"Shut up," Draco muttered and they turned the page to be greeted with about a dozen pictures of their kiss. The two looked up at each other with bright blushes on their faces and quickly turned the page.

The rest of the book consisted of pictures from the reception. Everyone Harry had ever met was in attendance, even Sirius - which baffled him. More people than Harry knew were in it as well, obviously Draco's extended family and friends.

"Merlin, we look so happy together. I bet we didn't call each other names that entire day," Harry said and peered over at a photo of them cutting the grand wedding cake.

"I guess I just completely forgot that being married meant we had a wedding, a great one by the looks of these pictures." Draco commented. Harry nodded his agreement.

"Hey, there aren't any students in these pictures," Harry pointed out as they turned the page to a few dimly lit photos of Harry, Draco, Arthur and a few other guys that Harry couldn't name.

"Is that a bachelor party?" Draco asked. Harry nodded.

"Why are we both at it?" Harry asked as they turned another page.

"What, do you think I would have a bachelorette party with a bunch of women?" Draco asked rhetorically and pointed to a picture while trying to stifle his laughter. "Merlin, is that a stripper on your lap, Harry? You look terrified." Draco laughed and Harry glanced at the picture of a scantily clad stripper sitting on a his lap.

"Don't judge me, your shirt is off in this picture," Harry pointed to another where one of the women had gotten Draco's shirt off. Draco's temple bumped into Harry's as he leaned in to get a better look.

Harry glanced up as Draco looked at the pictures and their faces were brought close together.

"This is the first day in two weeks that we haven't kissed," Draco said. His eyes shot down to Harry's lips, unknowingly wetting his own.

"We don't have to try as hard to keep up appearances here," Harry pointed out, but he didn't move away. He could feel Draco's breath ghosting across his cheeks.

"You're right," Draco agreed. "But were we always just keeping up appearances?" Draco asked. There had been a few kisses that both boys were pretty sure no one had seen, and that's what Draco was talking about.

Faced with that question Harry drew back a little bit, still confused over his feelings for Draco. They had always kissed to maintain their marital status, and now Harry was worried that Draco wanted to do it more than just for that.

Harry wasn't worried about kissing Draco. He was worried about the implications of such an action, worried that he might actually like Draco as more than just a friend.

Harry moved to pull back some more, but Draco grabbed Harry's hand lightly and flashed him a slightly pleading face. "We need to practice, right? Make sure we don't give any fake kisses," Draco argued.

Harry couldn't see how they would possibly need to practice giving each other pecks in the middle of a hall, but something about Draco's demeanor kept him from pulling away.

"Please, Harry?" Draco asked as he pulled the boy closer by his hand.

"Draco, I don't know," Harry admitted quietly. He cast his eyes down away from Draco's.

"What don't you know?" Draco asked. He put his free hand around Harry's neck, just lightly, not pulling him in quite yet.

It had been several days since Draco had really sat down and thought about their relationship. He realized that both he and Harry were taking it a little further than just pretending to be married. They would intimately touch each other when they were alone, they slept together and Harry even spooned him sometimes as he slept.

Draco was almost sure that Harry felt the same way for him as he felt for Harry. Draco didn't want these kisses to end. Draco had had mind-blowing make out sessions, and been fucked thoughtless before, but for some reason Draco wasn't thinking about those things. He was thinking about the soft kisses that he and Harry had shared.

"I don't know if I can kiss you," Harry clarified. Draco bit his lower lip slightly.

"Why don't you know?" Draco asked.

"Don't people kiss when they're dating?" Harry asked. He'd kissed a few girls before that he wasn't really dating, but he'd always thought that maybe they would date. With Draco, Harry just wasn't sure.  _Are we dating_ , was the only thought that was in Harry's mind at the moment. It was suffocating.

He was Harry Potter; he could probably get most the girls in school to go out with him. Yet, Harry couldn't deny that his attraction was to Draco.

"Just take a chance, Harry," Draco pleaded.

Harry took a deep breath and screwed his eyes shut before he leaned forward and planted his lips against Draco's.

"Harry, you're kissing me, not fighting me," Draco reminded.

Harry eased up a bit. He realized he was being forceful with his lips, and slowly he opened his eyes as they moved their lips against one another's. It was almost like the few kisses they'd shared at Hogwarts.

This kiss was different, though. It put butterflies in Harry's stomach and evoked a reaction from inside his pants.

Draco reached behind him and pushed the photo album further down on the bed so it wouldn't get knocked by either of them. Draco then put his hands on Harry back and guided him into a straddling position. Draco was the one who was laying down on the bed now.

The kiss was still just soft and sweet. This was exactly was Draco had wanted, but now that he had gotten it he wanted more.

Draco took the initiative to bite Harry's lower lip lightly, just like what he'd done during their first kiss - the move that had quickly ended it.

Harry didn't consent to Draco's moving the kiss along but still he emitted a small gasp. Draco took that window of opportunity to plunge his tongue into Harry's mouth.

With the sudden dominant act from Draco, Harry felt the urge to make Draco submissive once again and pressed his tongue back up against Draco's.

The kiss was wet and certainly intense - Harry could honestly say it was the best kiss of his life - but still Draco wanted more.

Draco's hands went to the hem of the tee shirt that Harry was wearing as the two continued the kiss. While Harry was distracted by something that Draco was doing with his tongue, he took the chance to tease his hands up Harry's shirt and over the man's back.

Harry shivered under the touch and while his mind practically went to red alert from the touches, his body remained calm and let Draco do his touching. And touch he did.

Draco tweaked, and scratched, and pinched, and kneaded. All of this brought moans from Harry's lips. Draco pulled away from the kiss for just a few moments to drag his mouth down to Harry's nipples. He held Harry's shirt just above them and sucked, biting softly until one turned an evervescent red, then did the same to the other aroused nub. Soon Draco couldn't handle not kissing Harry anymore and moved his mouth back up to encapture Harry's.

Draco's long nails raked down Harry's toned abs and Harry had to pull away from the kiss to groan and take in several deep breaths.

"That good?" Draco asked with a cheeky smile on his face.

Harry chuckled a bit and nodded. "Yes, and you can take it off - my shirt, I mean," Harry said. Draco smirked at him.

Draco peeled Harry's shirt off and flipped them on the bed so that he was on top. "Are you alright with being on the bottom?" Draco asked with another cheeky smile. Harry had shown some resistance to him taking over the kiss earlier.

Harry rolled his eyes and nodded. "It's fine," he assured. He rested his hands on Draco's hips. Harry hooked his arms around Draco's neck and attempted to being him down for another kiss, but Draco held up a finger to Harry's lips.

"Not yet," he said. Draco moved his hands down Harry's chest again, moving past the top of his boxers. He kept going until they rested right on Harry's crotch. Draco gave a playful squeeze and Harry gasped.

"Here?" Draco asked. He circled a long fingernail along the area. Harry so desperately wanted to say yes, to feel Draco's soft and delicate hands circling around his cock, but it was too soon.

All the blood drained from Harry's face as Draco asked that and Harry took a few more deep breaths. "N-no," Harry stuttered out. "Not this time," Harry added. It was too soon for him. Only Harry had ever seen what lay below his boxers and until just recently he had thought that the only other person to see it would be a pretty girl.

A soft, curvy girl just like Ginny. Not a man like Draco who was just hard and flat. Harry needed to wrap his head around this.

"That's perfectly fine. I am moving a little fast," Draco admitted with a small shrug. He moved back up to Harry's lips, bringing him in for another mind-blowing kiss.


	7. Chapter 7

When Harry woke up in the morning, he was incredibly confused.

Harry's shirt was on the floor along with the blanket and a photo album. Draco was snuggled up close against Harry, wrapped in his arms.

Harry almost regretted getting up, but he needed to take a shower. He felt kind of dirty, and his boxers were sticky. Apparently the sexuality of the kiss had been enough to set him off.

Draco groaned as Harry got up and reached for a blanket that wasn't there. Harry picked up the blanket and placed it over Draco. He bit his lip softly when he saw a few marks covering Draco's chest. He was having a hard time coming to terms with exactly what had happened yesterday.

Harry grabbed some clothes and walked to the bathroom, slipping out of the dirty boxers. He used a spell to clean them before stepping into the massive shower.

Harry leaned against one of the tiled walls as he let the water cascade over him.

Several marks covered him from his belly button to his collar bone, so he could at least cover them. Ginny had never left any marks on him; she'd never even kissed him with tongue before. Harry hadn't ever thought about doing anything more with her.

As Harry thought of Draco, there was a reaction down below and Harry let out a long sigh. He figured that that was answer enough for him — he was definitely gay.

Harry shut the water off and stepped out of the shower, pulling on a pair of boxers, jeans and a black button-up shirt. He figured he should try and look presentable around the Malfoys.

"Harry, are you in there?" Draco called as he softly rapped on the door.

"Yeah, you can come in," Harry said. Draco walked in with only his pajama bottoms on. Draco hadn't found release, which made Harry blush. Draco obviously had more experience than him.

Draco walked in and put his hand under Harry's chin. "Good morning," he said, trying to pull Harry in for a kiss.

Harry flinched away a bit and Draco raised an eyebrow at him. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

"N-no," Harry stuttered. He let out a sigh, then leaned forward and pressed a small kiss to Draco's lips.

"Still confused?" Draco asked. He pulled Harry into a tight hug.

"Yeah, I am," Harry admitted.

Draco rubbed his back softly. Draco wanted to be mad at Harry — to hit him, to yell at him and to tell him that he'd had long enough to figure his shit out — but he didn't. Instead, he spoke softly to him. "That's completely fine. Take your time," Draco whispered. He pressed a small and intimate kiss against Harry's forehead. "We'll take it slow — if you want to continue, that is."

Harry nodded. "I do want to continue."

Draco smiled at those words and pulled away from the hug. "We should probably get down to breakfast in a couple minutes," Draco said.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "I'll wait for you out there." He walked out to the bed and took a seat as he waited for Draco to get dressed and ready.

Harry remade the bed and put the photo album on the night stand.

"Ready to go?" Draco asked as he held a hand out for Harry after he walked out of the bathroom. Harry took it lightly and stood off the bed.

Breakfast was waiting for them and was just as glorious as the dinner from last night, but the setting was more casual. Lucius sat with his chair lightly tipped back, sipping a cup of coffee and holding a newspaper in his free hand. He gave them a half smile and a nod as they walked in.

"Good morning, boys." Narcissa greeted them as she nibbled on her breakfast.

Harry gave her a smile and Draco returned her greeting. They both took their seats next to each other. Harry helped himself to a heaping plate of food. He hadn't eaten that much last night due to nerves and was now regretting the consequences.

"You two seem different this morning, more normal," Lucius noted with an eyebrow quirked.

"I suppose we just needed to settle in," Draco explained before taking a small bite of toast. He hadn't had much of an appetite recently.

Harry snaked his hand over to Draco's and held it lightly under the table.

* * *

"What do we get for a bunch of  _weasels_?" Draco asked as Harry scanned the shelved of Amuensis Quills.

"Don't worry, Draco, I know what to get pretty much all of them," Harry assured as he picked up a beautiful green and blue self-inking quill for Ginny.

"Are we really going to spend this much on them?" Draco asked with a scowl. Though money wasn't an issue, he still didn't want to waste it on the Weasleys.

"Draco, shut up," Harry said with an eye roll. Most of the money was coming from him anyway. His vault in Gringotts was still very full.

Harry paid for the quill and got it specially wrapped for Ginny before getting a house elf to bring it back to the manor.

"Alright, what do we get for the rest of them?" Draco asked. He had absolutely no idea.

"A cauldron for Fred and George's potions, a broom for Ron, dress robes for Percy, something relating to dragons for Charlie, some book for Bill, I think we'll get Arthur an alarm clock — because it's a muggle object — and I'm not sure, a cook book for Molly?" Harry summed up with a small shrug.

Draco just looked confused, so Harry pulled him around to a couple of stores until finally he was sure that they had everything that they needed. After a house elf took his book on perfect muggle deserts Harry let a frown cover his face.

"Christmas Eve is tomorrow night. What do we get for Lucius and Narcissa?" Harry asked. He was finally able to casually call them by their first names after a week of being in their house.

Draco gave a small shrug and tweaked his eyebrows together. "I guess we could get my dad a... book? And my mom a dress or something? I guess I don't really know what they like," Draco said slowly, trying to figure things out as he spoke.

"So, Obscurus Books and Madam Malkin's?" Harry asked. Draco nodded. Harry noticed that Draco still looked a little odd about buying his parents presents.

"You've never bought them presents?" Harry asked as they walked into Obscurus Books.

Draco shook his head. "I suppose I did before I went to Hogwarts, after that we barely spent the holidays together. I never really thought I had to." Draco said with a shrug as he flipped through a book. Finally, Draco found one that he liked and pulled it off the shelf. He quickly paid for it before exiting the shop with Harry.

"What are we getting for your mother?" Harry asked as they crossed the street to Madam Malkin's.

"The newest and most expensive dress robes possible. We have to make sure that she doesn't already have them," Draco said. Both boys felt awkward as soon as they walked into the mainly women's dress robes store.

They had to resort to asking the woman that was running the store for help. She showed them dress robes that cost much more than the Weasley's trip to Egypt.

* * *

"Well, now that that's over with, do you want to go get lunch?" Harry asked, as they realized they had just been walking around for a while. Harry had ogled brooms for a while and Draco spent an hour in the apothecary.

Draco shrugged. He loved to shop, but when it was for other people then he didn't like it quite as much. He felt tired and his feet hurt.

"How about we go to muggle London? We can find a pub. We are of legal age to get smashed," Harry said with a small grin.

" _Smashed_ , Harry? Really? How about we go to a nice place that doesn't involve what is still underage drinking," Draco said with a raised brow as the two walked towards the Leaky Cauldron.

"Fine, we won't drink. But I don't know where to find a fancy restaurant in London," Harry said. He figured that finding a pub would be easy, but he wasn't so sure about an upscale restaurant.

"How about we don't go to London? I know a place in Paris that we could go to," Draco offered with a hopeful look on his face; he knew that it would involve apparating.

Harry pursed his lips, but then nodded. "That sounds great," he agreed as he grabbed Draco's hand.

In a blink they were on a roof in muggle Paris. Harry spewed all over it while Draco held him.

"Why are we on a roof?" He groaned.

"It was the safest place I could think to apparate to. We're on the roof of a hotel. Do you want to stay here tonight?" Draco asked. He helped Harry to the stairwell that led into the bowels of the building.

"You mean we'll stay in a hotel room? All alone? By ourselves?" Harry asked as they pressed the button for the elevator.

Draco noticed that Harry looked concerned and ran a hand over his back. "We don't have to," Draco assured. Harry shook his head.

"No, that sounds great, but it doesn't mean that I'm ready to go any... Further," Harry said as they rode down the elevator.

Draco shook his head quickly and pressed a kiss to Harry's forehead. "I get it, no sex. Not yet. It's too early for me as well," Draco admitted as they reached ground floor.

The person at the front desk didn't mention that they just came from the elevator as she gave them the key to a room on the top floor. Draco paid quite a sum for it.

"Alright, we have the room paid for. The restaurant should be right across the street," Draco explained. He walked with Harry next door.

The restaurant was the most expensive place Harry had ever set foot in; he felt a little awkward being in there with only normal jeans and a tee shirt on.

"I feel a little weird in here," Harry admitted as they took a seat in a corner booth.

"Don't worry about it. It's my mother's favorite restaurant, so any Malfoy could come in here with anything on and they'll get served. We've pretty much paid for everything in this place," Draco said with a shrug.

"Draco, I can't read this menu," Harry said as he stared at the French menu with confusion written on his face.

"Don't worry about it, Harry. I'll order for you," Draco assured. As the waiter came by, Draco let out an elegant string of French while Harry just stared at him in confusion.

"Pardonnez-moi, Monsieur. Nous sommes prêts à ordre. On va prendre les escargots, avec un de chaque de ces plats sur le menu spécial. Oui, c'est tout. Merci."

"You speak French?" Harry asked incredulously.

Draco shrugged, "I speak several languages, French and English the most fluently. It's part of being pure blood," Draco explained as the waitress came back with several small plates of food for them to share from.

"What is this?" Harry asked, studying the expensive and disgusting-looking food.

"Just normal French food. Just try it," Draco chided as he took a bite of something that to Harry looked like slimy balls of goop. Harry nervously took a bite of a piece of food and scrunched his nose up.

"It's so flavorful," he noted as he took another bite. His taste buds weren't quite as refined enough to be able to eat food like this and think it was amazing, but he bared with it and didn't whine about anything else.

* * *

"So, you don't like French food," Draco mussed as he pulled his shirt over his head. A couple of house elves had brought them clothes from the manor and told Lucius and Narcissa that they were spending the night in Paris.

"It was alright, I guess. Just really intense," Harry admitted as he read through the channel list for the TV, just for something to do while Draco got into his pajamas.

When Draco came out of the bathroom, he was dressed only in his silk boxers. Harry quirked an eyebrow. "You don't want us to go all the way, but we can still go part of the way," Draco said with a smirk as he sat on the edge of the bed next to Harry.

"I like that idea," Harry admitted. He leaned up to kiss him. Harry cradled Draco's head as Draco climbed onto Harry's lap to straddle him.

"You're still a lot more dressed than I am," Draco whined. Harry helped pull his shirt off so they were both only in their boxers. Over the past week Harry had been keeping everything above the belt but Harry could tell that Draco was starting to get antsy about not doing anything more.

Draco rocked his hips lightly against Harry's and Harry let out a groan, immediately reacting to the sensation.

The kiss was just as electrifying, both their tongues fought with each other as Draco continuously thrust his hips into Harry's.

Both were letting out long and drawn-out noises as they kissed, though Draco was definitely making more noises than Harry was.

Draco's hands trailed up and down Harry's exposed chest, moving his mouth with Harry's.

Soon Draco's hands hit Harry's boxers and Draco looked up at him from under his lashes for affirmation.

"Go ahead," Harry agreed. Draco slipped the boxers down Harry's thighs.

He felt the rush of air over his cock and let out a soft hiss, blushing slightly when he noticed Draco staring heatedly at his cock. "Don't stare." Harry whined and shuffled a bit in his space under the man. 

Draco stroked down Harry's cheek softly, "Oh Harry I can't help it, you're beautiful." He spoke softly and leaned in for another kiss. Draco ground his still covered cock into Harry's and Harry gave a jolt at the unexpected pleasure, working his hands down towards Draco's briefs to work them off as well. Draco helped him by shimmying his hips and then gripping both their cocks in his hands. He stroked Harry while also thrusting against him and forming some lovely friction.

Harry widened his eyes, embarrassed that he felt he was going to come so soon. "Draco...Not much longer..." He breathed out, his words no more than pants.

Draco slithered down Harry's body and hovered over the mans hard cock, precome dripping out steadily. Draco hadn't been turned on this much in a long time either, and could feel his own orgasm impending, building up like a white heat in his belly. 

Suddenly Harry's cock was covered in a wet heat that he immediately bucked up into, recoiling his hips so that he wouldn't hurt Draco, but the man was already bobbing his head up and down and occasionally sinking down do that his nose brushed against the thick hairs in his pelvis. Harry had never even had someone else touch his cock before, so he was trying with all his might not to come undone in Draco's mouth immediately.

The blond pulled off, a thin web of saliva connecting his mouth to the tip of Harry's cock. " _Fuck my face._ " He muttered in the dirtiest and most sinful voice Harry had ever heard. 

"I'm so close though-" Harry started.

"In my mouth, I want to taste you." 

Harry didn't ask twice before thrusting his cock back into Draco's mouth, feeling the smaller man swallow around his cock and gag softly at the suddeness of the intrusion, Harry hesistated again for a moment before Draco started bobbing again and Harry regained his confidence, fucking up into Draco's mouth in quick juts.

It wasn't long before Harry could feel himself only seconds away from exploding into Draco's mouth, he gripped his hand into Draco's hair, hearing the man let out a whimper at the brutality of the action and Harry pushed Draco's head down as he fucked up, letting out strings of cusses mixed with Draco's name. He felt the synapse of his orgasm rupture and he continued to thrust into Draco as his cock let out an endless wave of cum.

Draco continued along eagerly and Harry could feel a few swallows around his cock before he watched the liquid seep out from around the gaps in Draco's mouths' hold on his cock, dripping down his chin and some of it down his chest. Draco pulled off just in time to get a shot of cum right on his cheek. 

It was then that Harry noticed Draco had been jacking himself as well, and had orgasmed onto Harry's upper thigh almost at the same time. 

Draco collapsed onto Harry's chest with a content smile on his face. Harry's strong arms wrapped around Draco's back and pressed soft kisses against his hair. "So good Draco, you were so good." Harry mumbled. Normally he'd been able to go again after he got off, but in these older bodies he could tell that he was probably sated for the night.

* * *

"You two be safe. We'll miss you. You have to come stay with us on your next break," Narcissa said with a small frown on her face. It was Christmas Day.

Last night had gone well. Lucius and Narcissa both liked their presents. Harry was gifted a pair of dragon skin gloves for the winter, and Draco a new book on transfigurations.

"I promise we will," Harry said with a smile. He was now able to fairly easily talk with the two older Malfoys. He still felt a little awkward around them, but they were nice people.

Lucius pulled both the boys into a small hug. Draco still wasn't used to his father showing affection like this.

"Draco, don't you let Harry get sick. Make sure you both eat well. I love you, too," Narcissa said as she gave them both a tight hug.

"Don't worry, Mother. We'll take care of each other," Draco promised. Finally, the two of them were walking down the gravel road to the front gates. Harry had Draco's hand clasped gently in his own.

Soon, they were outside the gates where Draco could safely apparate them away. In the blink of an eye, Draco was holding a vomiting Harry and two laughs were chorusing.

"Still can't apparate, Harry?" George Weasley asked. Fred chuckled. Harry sent them a sneer, but they just continued laughing.

"Mom's been waiting," Fred and George both said. "Now we can open presents."

Draco and Harry followed slowly behind, Harry holding Draco's hand in a vice-like grip. Harry's hand was clammy but Draco didn't seem to mind right now.

All of their things had been brought to a room in the burrow by house elves who apparently already knew where they would be staying. Harry knew of only one room in the burrow that wasn't in use; he supposed that that's where they would be staying.

As soon as Harry and Draco walked into the burrow, Harry heard Molly's voice. The woman soon had her arms around Harry, then moved to Draco who looked incredibly awkward.

"I'm so glad you two came!" Molly cried out. Harry gave her a small smile. It was nice to be in the burrow, even if it was under odd circumstances.

"Of course we came. We wouldn't miss Christmas at the burrow," Harry said. Draco was a bit perturbed by the situation, which appeared to have been flipped. When they were at the manor, Draco was the one easily answering and Harry was being shy, but now Draco's throat felt dry; he couldn't think of anything to say, so he stayed silent.

Molly beamed at him. Arthur also pulled them both into a hug and greeted them. The Weasley kids who were out of Hogwarts gave Harry and Draco a warm welcome. Ron and Ginny kept their distance from Harry, but Ginny greeted Draco happily. That brought a frown to his face.

Everyone gathered in the main room so they could sit and open presents.

To Harry and Draco's surprise, they actually had a few wrapped packages to open. They were from Molly and Arthur, the twins and Bill Weasley.

Soon, everyone had opened all of their presents. Ron seemed incredibly surprised by the broom that Harry and Draco had gotten him and stuttered out a "thank you".

Everyone else was excited to get their presents. Harry and Draco got presents from mostly everyone: robes, potion ingredients and the like. Mostly things that involved their teaching.

Harry and Draco both kept fairly quiet during their stay at the burrow. They really just ate with the family, and retreated to their room as soon as they could. For the most part, the two kept their hands off of each other; they didn't want to make too much noise or anything.

On the last day before break ended, Snape and Hermione came to stay with them, just like Harry would do if it weren't for the mix-up.

The night before they went back to Hogwarts, Harry and Draco had to break apart from a slow make-out session when Snape knocked on their door.

"Damn," Draco cursed as he pulled away from Harry with a small frown. Harry had a similar look on his face, not wanting to break their kiss.

Harry stood and walked to the door, trying to tame his hair a bit as he did. Thankfully he and Draco hadn't removed any clothing yet.

"What is it?" Harry asked in a snappy tone as he opened the door. Snape gave him a piercing glare and pushed past Harry into their room. Harry closed the door behind him.

"Lucius Malfoy sent a letter to Dumbledore. He managed to figure out exactly what happened to the two of you. Apparently, you weren't the greatest of actors," Snape said in a dull tone.

Harry raised an eyebrow and sent a look to Draco, who just shrugged. Draco wasn't too surprised about that; his father was fairly perceptive.

"And how did that letter get to you?" Harry asked. Snape visibly tensed.

"Dumbledore has known from the beginning, but didn't mention anything," Snape explained. "He gave the letter to me. Lucius knows how to fix this," Snape finished. Harry's eyes widened.

"As in, we can switch back?" Draco muttered. Snape nodded.

"He said that we need to recreate the entire situation precisely. Lucius said that if he's right, then it was a Wattleseed spell that did this."

"A Wattleseed spell?" Harry asked, confused. He'd never heard of anything like that.

"It's dark magic. I didn't even have any idea that it was a thing. When the Slytherin added an extra ingredient to your potion, it emitted an odor that reacted with the wattleseed. Everyone who was holding that ingredient got switched," Snape explained. Draco furrowed his brows.

"That sounds like a stretch, even for magic," Draco said.

"I'm just telling you what your father said. We'll have to at least try it. So, Harry, when classes resume you need to propose that we do that potion again. McGonagall needs to persuade the same Slytherin to throw the extra ingredient in my potion. We can't use real wattleseed though. Only McGonagall, you two and I can hold the real thing, just as a precaution."

"My only question would be, why was McGonagall affected? She wasn't even in the classroom at the time," Draco stated.

"She raided my ingredients cabinet that morning, looking for something to transfigure with her classes. She clearly found Wattleseed. Draco, you need to make sure that when Harry is teaching his sixth years, you have that Wattleseed in your hand. Keep it for the entire class."

* * *

"I can't believe everything will be back to normal in an hour," Harry said as he pulled Draco down onto the couch on top of him.

Draco bucked his hips against Harry's in a teasing manner. "I know, it's going to be weird not being teachers anymore," Draco said as he pressed a small kiss to Harry's neck.

Harry bucked his hips up against Draco's, creating some lovely friction.

"Mm, I think we should get to classes," Harry muttered even as he was squeezing Draco's ass playfully.

"Maybe we can be late," Draco offered. He lightly bit Harry's ear lobe.

"Nope, come on. This has to be perfect," Harry said. With a pout, Draco sat up. Lunch was winding to an end and they had to get to classes. It was freezing outside, so they had opted to spend lunch in their apartment.

Harry pulled Draco into one last messy and wet kiss before they had to go to their classes. Draco was gripping the wattleseed tightly in his slightly sweating hand.

Harry began his class just as he remembered Snape had a few days before. Several kids were surprised to find that they were doing the same potion that landed two kids and a teacher in the infirmary.

He watched as everyone got up to get their ingredients. Harry gripped the wattleseed in his hand, McGonagall and Snape doing the same thing.

Harry watched McGonagall whisper something to Goyle. It looked like she was trying to convince him to throw the ingredient.

Harry crossed his fingers under his desk, hoping that Goyle would agree.

Harry heard the familiar sound of an ingredient entering a potion, and soon afterwards slumped out of his chair.

* * *

Draco rubbed his eyes as he sat up and stretched his arms above his head. He let out a long yawn and ran his hands softly through his hair.

His eyebrows furrowed as he did it again and he open his eyes. His hair was much shorter. He squeezed his eyes shut again at the bright light in the room.

The infirmary.

"Draco?" The young boy next to him asked. It was Harry Potter.

"Yeah," Draco muttered. The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Snape ruined the moment.

"I see that it worked," Snape said in his deep baritone voice from the bed on the other side of a much older McGonagall.

Harry nodded as McGonagall sat up in her bed. "Thank Merlin," she muttered.

Draco looked back over to Harry and bit his lip slightly.

Neither had a chance to say anything before Harry was crushed between Hermione and Ginny.

"Harry!" They both cried out as Ron stood at the foot of Harry's bed.

Draco saw a grin spread across Harry's face as the four of them began talking.

* * *

"It's dinnertime, Harry, Hermione," Ron said, poking his head into the library where the two of them were studying. Harry had pretty much missed two weeks of classes. He had suggested to Hermione that they go study in the library.

Harry closed his books and stood. He flashed a smile to Ron, something that he had missed being able to do during his stint as a professor.

On their way to the Great Hall Harry passed Draco, who was standing with his friends. Harry remembered back to when he had promised Draco that they would still be friends after the issue was resolved. Harry had an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach that that might not happen now.

Draco gave Harry a glance but tried not to show any emotion towards him. Harry's stomach did a flip at the tight-lipped look.

Over the next few days, Harry and Draco didn't speak at all. They barely even looked at each other.

The week after the incident, Harry pulled Draco aside in a hall and straight into one of the alcoves.

"I missed you," Harry muttered. Draco looked down.

"You could have made an effort to talk to me," Draco said with a small pout on his face.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "You didn't try either," he pointed out. Draco sighed.

"Look at this, we're reverting right back to how we were," Draco said as he stepped out of the alcove.

"I suppose we should try harder. I just can't imagine how we're going to get your friends to see me as anything other than the enemy," Harry said. He ran his hands through his hair.

"My friends? Your friends are the ones that are always plotting against me," Draco said with a slight frown on his face.

"At least my friends wouldn't drop me without a moment's notice," Harry said with a slight shrug.

By then, everyone else in the hall was trying to steer clear of the two boys who were both glaring at each other.

"You stupid arsehole," Draco hissed at him. He gripped his wand tightly.

"You're such a spoiled wanker," Harry yelled back. Both boys pointed their wands at each other.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry gripped his wand tightly in his hand, trying to decide if he was really going to go through with it and cast a spell on Draco. By now, quite a large circle of curious students had gathered around them.

Draco muttered something under his breath. Harry wasn't quite sure what it was, but it sounded alarmingly like 'flagrate.' Harry flinched at the thought and took a short step back from Draco, making sure if he had cast the spell that it couldn't hit him.

Harry could tell by the look in Draco's eyes that even that little bit of teasing after going so long with each other without it had set Draco over the edge. Harry, too, was feeling enraged that the two had so easily fallen into a fight.

"What, not going to defend yourself, Ha- " Draco stopped himself mid-sentence and glanced around at everyone surrounding them before hissing, "Potter."

Harry narrowed his eyes and sent a basic hex towards Draco, not really wanting to hurt him but at the same time feeling just as he had before the switch. He felt so much hatred for Draco, which had simply disappeared during the switch. The sight of Draco's face made his stomach churn lightly.

Draco scoffed at Harry's pitiful attempt and lunged forward, barely scraping Harry with the end of his wand and leaving a trail of burnt skin behind.

It was nothing more serious than their fights had usually been, but when they made eye contact Harry felt like he was going to be sick.

Draco backed away after his assault and furrowed his eyebrows together. For just a second, the hatred disappeared again. Draco felt guilty for hurting Harry and pocketed his wand. The students surrounding them looked confused, but Draco didn't care.

"Harry!" Ron Weasley's familiar voice called to him as he dashed out of the throng of students and put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "You all right, mate?" Ron asked as he glanced at the burn on Harry's arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered as Hermione appeared at his other arm.

"What are you looking at, Malfoy?" Ron sneered. Malfoy let the knit in his brows drop as he returned the sneer before turning on his heel and stalking towards the dungeons.

"Do you want to go to Madam Pomfrey Harry?" Hermione asked with concern in her voice.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, that would be good." He also pocketed his wand.

The burn didn't hurt too bad, but he hoped that Madam Pomfrey would have a salve for it or something to help.

The three of them headed to the infirmary together, Harry clutching his arm tightly. He couldn't help but think back to the last time they'd fought; it had ended with Snape using an Expelliarmus spell and Draco, an Episkey on Harry's cut. Harry felt a slight twinge at the thought. It had been almost five weeks since their last fight. That was quite the feat for the two of them.

"You guys seemed to be on okay terms for a while," Hermione commented with a huff, not really condoning a fight.

Harry shrugged. "I guess we just snapped," he said.

"Surprised you didn't deal more damage," Ron muttered. Harry didn't respond. He hadn't wanted to deal more damage. He wished right now with all of his being that back when they were in the alcove, Harry hadn't been so stubborn and had just given in to what Draco must have wanted as well.

When they got to the infirmary, Ron and Hermione decided to go get the last bit of dinner and left Harry alone with Madam Pomfrey. Harry didn't really want to go back out into the throng of students, so he told her he had a headache and was allowed to lay down on one of the beds for a while.

Harry drifted off for a while and when he woke up, Draco was sitting on the edge of his bed.

Harry shot a small frown at Draco and looked down. "What do you want?" He muttered. Draco sighed before standing.

"I wanted to apologize," Draco said with sincerity in his voice as he reached for Harry's hand.

"Why did you try to hex me then?" Harry asked as he let Draco hold his hand.

Draco sighed, squeezing Harry's hand tightly in his own.

"I'm sorry, really, I am. I think it's easier for us to get on each other's nerves now that we're back to how we used to be," Draco said with a frown.

Harry had already gathered as much, but he couldn't hate someone that he had made such a connection with. "So, I said sorry. Am I forgiven?" Draco asked with a slight pout on his face.

Harry acted as if he was thinking about it for a moment before he pulled Draco up onto the bed next to him. Draco snuggled in next to him. Both boys were a little wary that someone would walk in on them, but for now they just enjoyed each other's company.

After a good twenty minutes of laying with each other, Draco started to stir. His hand went to Harry's crotch with pleading eyes. "No," Harry chided. He could probably live with being caught in bed with Draco, but not with Draco giving him a hand job in the middle of the school infirmary.

Draco stuck his lower lip out and Harry leaned down to press a small kiss against his lips. "Let's find somewhere more private," Harry offered. Draco nodded, hopping off the bed. Harry sat up easily, his burn was all but gone.

Draco easily reached for Harry's hand and the two shared a small smile. "You're still a wanker," Draco muttered. Harry elbowed him with a smile.

"Be glad you're on my good side again," Harry warned with an eye roll. After a cursory glance they walked into the hall, holding their hands slightly behind them so they cold let them go at a moment's notice.

Harry was glad that they had done so, as Hermione and Ron soon rounded the corner. The two immediately let go of each other's hands and jumped away from each other. Hermione raised an eyebrow at Harry.

"Are you two fighting again?" Hermione asked with pursed lips.

Harry was trying to figure out what to say, but nothing was coming to him. Draco, however, knew exactly what to say. "No, Snape wants us in detention and sent me to escort him," Draco said with a convincing sneer in Harry's direction.

Harry frowned at the words and tried his best to send a sneer back to Draco.

"That sucks, mate," Ron said with a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Have fun," he added in a teasing tone.

Ron put his arm lightly around Hermione's shoulders and led her away. They both sent Harry one last apologetic look.

"Merlin, you're good at lying," Harry said with a small sigh as he let out the breath he'd been holding.

Draco smiled charmingly and slipped his hand back into Harry's. "It's all in the upbringing," he said with a small shrug. The two walked for a while longer until Harry realized that they weren't going to the dungeons; they weren't going anywhere Harry was familiar with.

"Where are we?" Harry asked as he looked around. He knew this hallway; it was halfway between the dungeons and the Gryffindor tower. It was the hallway where their little apartment had been.

"It's a surprise," Draco said teasingly as they came upon a massive door that look like it hadn't been used in years. It looked oddly familiar to Harry.

"Wait, this isn't... It couldn't be," Harry muttered to himself as the door was pushed open. "Merlin, it is," Harry said in wonder as he looked around the room. It didn't look a thing like it had. The room was stacked wall to wall with odds and ends, but nevertheless Harry recognized it.

"I couldn't believe it either. I thought that little apartment had been added just for us," Draco said and he pulled Harry into where their bedroom had been. Draco had pushed aside a few things so that there was a clear spot on the floor. "Sorry there's no luxurious bed," Draco said with a smirk. He pulled Harry down to sit on the floor with him.

"Why isn't this room spelled or hidden?" Harry asked with a furrowed brow. Most of the empty rooms in Hogwarts were inaccessible to students.

"Oh, believe me, it was. I just happened to be walking down this hall at the same time that Lovegood was. She gave the empty spot on the wall a good long stare and I figured out there was a door," Draco said with a grin. He rested his head on Harry's shoulder.

"I'm so glad it's here," Harry mused. He had been glad to have this room to escape to during the mix up and it was reassuring knowing that it was still here.

"Me, too," Draco said quietly. Harry pressed a soft kiss to the top of his head.

"I do kind of miss our furniture though," Harry said with a pout.

"Perhaps we could move some of this stuff and at least put our bed in here?" Draco offered. "Most of this stuff looks dusty and untouched, I'm sure no one comes in here, and we could always transfigure the bed into something else while we're not here. I've gotten pretty good at transfigurations while teaching it, you know," Draco said. Harry beamed at the idea.

"Think you could transfigure something in here into a bed?" Harry asked with a childishly happy look in his eyes. Draco nodded his affirmation and stood, pulling Harry up with him.

Harry watched as Draco dug through a few things for a moment before coming up with a tarp that had been used to cover a few magical items, something that wouldn't be missed. Draco spread the tarp out where the bed would have been and after a few moments the same small but nice bed was sitting in the center of the room.

Harry beamed at Draco and tackled him onto the bed. "Merlin, you're the best! I lov-" Harry cut himself off, a shocked look on his face, reeling over what he was about to say. "Sorry," Harry muttered.

"Don't be sorry, I love you too," Draco said as he pulled Harry in for a languid kiss.

They kissed for a while before they finally had to break apart for air. "Do you think we should go down for dinner?" Harry asked with a small frown.

Draco shook his head. "We have a good twenty minutes before we should go down," Draco said. He moved his lips down to Harry's neck.

"What can we do in twenty minutes?" Harry asked, shivering slightly at the feeling of Draco's lips moving softly on his neck. He missed this feeling terribly. The hatred he felt in the back of his mind for Draco had all but disappeared.

"Plenty of things, Harry," Draco assured. He moved his hands down to Harry's crotch, unbuttoning the school slacks and pulling them down.

Harry didn't respond, just flipped their positions so that Draco was on top.  
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"You're right, plenty of things can be done in twenty minutes," Harry said, breathing heavily as Draco muttered 'scourgify,' pulled his shirt back on, and buttoned his trousers.

"I'm going to head down to dinner now. Take your time getting dressed. It would probably seem odd if we entered together," Draco pointed out, to which Harry nodded.

"I think it already seems odd because you told Ron and Mione we were going to detention when it was only forty minutes before dinner. That seems like an awfully short detention," Harry said. He stuck his tongue out at Draco.

"So, I'm not the best liar," Draco said with a small smile. He leaned in to give Harry one last kiss before walking to the short hall that led to the living room and door.

"I love you Draco," Harry called out after the boy.

Draco returned the statement before slipping out into the hall.

Harry slowly stretched as he sat up on the bed and started to look around for his clothing, which had been strewn about. His boxers and trousers were on one side of the bed and his shirt on the other, his glasses next to his tie.

Harry got dressed, taking his time as Draco had told him to. He was a bit apprehensive about having to ease the whole school into the idea of them dating, but he was sure that he would be able to do it. Sneaking around with someone he liked wasn't really his style.

As Harry tied his tie, his mind drifted to his friends. Hermione seemed like she was on to something from their encounter in the hall, but she always thought that she knew about things when she really didn't. Ron obviously didn't know anything; he never really did.

Harry also thought about Ginny. They hadn't talked much over the past week, but he could tell that what had happened between her and Snape was what was happening between her and him.

They were dating.

Draco and Harry had both found it hard over the past week to get into the groove of school life, especially since it seemed as though everything Snape and McGonagall had done, they had done. Hermione and Ron had been bringing up conversations Harry hadn't even known that he'd had, and talking about things he didn't remember doing. It was all fairly difficult.

Ginny was certainly the hardest to deal with. Harry loved Ginny as a sister, as an annoying, girly sister. Harry was definitely gay and he was going to have to tell her that before she got the idea that he had cheated on her with Draco Malfoy.

Harry slipped out of the storing room and headed down to dinner. Draco was sitting next to Blaise Zabini. Blaise casually had his hand right next to Draco's arse, which made Harry's blood run cold and a frown take over his face for a moment before he continued on to sit with his friends. He took the only open seat, which was next to Ginny.

"Short detention," Hermione commented as soon as Harry sat down.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, we had to get started now and finish after dinner," he explained, hoping that it sounded plausible.

Ron groaned just at the thought.

"That's awful," Ginny said with a frown as she put her hand softly on Harry's thigh - a romantic gesture.

"After detention there's something I need to tell all of you, something personal," Harry stated. There's no turning back now, looks like I have to tell them I'm gay, Harry thought.

Hermione's gaze softened slightly. "Alright, we'll wait up for you in the commons. What time do you think you'll be done with detention?" Hermione asked.

Harry thought for a moment. There was a chance that Draco couldn't go back to the storage room with him, in which case he should make the time a little shorter. "Probably six thirty," he decided before starting to eat his food.

Ron spoke with Dean and the other guys about Quidditch while Ginny and Hermione spoke softly about quills and such. Harry listened in on both conversations until he noticed Draco stand.

"I think it's time I headed down to detention," Harry said sheepishly as he stood.

"Harry, Snape hasn't even finished eating yet," Hermione pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"I bet if I get a head start he'll let me out on good behavior," Harry said with a wink before disappearing into the corridor.

"Draco!" He called to the blonde who was walking a few paces in front of him. Draco backtracked and looped an arm gently around Harry's waist.

"I hate not eating together," Draco mumbled pitifully.

"Well, how about throughout the week we start walking around with each other more often and talking like friends. Maybe by the end of the week it would be alright for us to sit together," Harry offered. Draco beamed at the offer, leaning up to kiss Harry lightly on the cheek.

"Shall we continue where we left off?" Draco asked as they neared their hidden storage room.

"And pray tell, where exactly did we leave off, Dragon?" Harry asked with a teasing lilt in his voice. Draco scrunched his nose at the nickname, but didn't object.

"Hmm, both of us naked with you pounding into my arse?" Draco asked as he batted his long lashes. Harry rolled his eyes; that had most definitely not been where they had left off.  
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Two hours later, both boys were completely exhausted, panting wildly and trying to catch their breaths while sprawled out on the bed. Both of them were riddled with bite marks and hickeys.

Draco groaned as he sat up and supported his weight with his hands behind his back. "That was bloody brilliant," Draco said with a lazy look on his face as he searched for his shirt.

Harry nodded, still trying to catch his breath before he spoke. "That it was," he agreed, searching the room for his boxers.

Draco stood and winced slightly as he grabbed his trousers. "We have to do it again sometime," Draco said. He pulled his tie around his neck.

"Mmm, that sounds good. I'm up for right now if you are," Harry said sarcastically as he finished dressing himself. Draco transfigured the bed back into a tarp and put his arm around Harry's waist, leaning heavily against him.

"Is it past curfew?" Draco asked as he yawned.

Harry shook his head. "I think we still have a half hour," Harry said. He pulled open the door to the storage room, and the two hobbled out.

Draco was about to respond when a shrill voice cut them off.

"Harry James Potter! What in Merlin's name have you been doing for the past two hours?" Hermione Granger practically shrieked. She stood from her sitting place on the floor, her joints popping slightly, signaling that she'd been there for a while.

Harry and Draco both blushed deeply. Harry pulled away from Draco. "That's what I have to talk to you guys about. Calm down for now and I'll tell you back in Gryffindor tower," Harry promised and while Hermione didn't look happy, she at least didn't yell again.

"See you tomorrow, Harry," Draco said, not smiling - though Harry could see a hint of a smile in his eyes.

Harry nodded and Hermione grabbed his arm, wrenching him away and toward the tower.

"You have some serious explaining to do," was the only thing that Hermione said during the entire walk back.

Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Harry were the only ones left in the common area, all huddled on the couch.

"So, Harry, what is it that you need to tell us?" Ron asked while Hermione gave him a very pointed stare. Ginny looked confused and Harry felt a bit bad that he would have to tell her this in front of the other two.

"Well, I guess there's no other way to say this, but... I'm gay," Harry said rather quietly.

There was no reaction for a while until Ron's eyebrows shot up his forehead. Hermione looked smug, and Ginny looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"You mean, you don't like me at all?" Ginny asked while her face twisted into a look of disgust.

"Of course not! I love you, Gin, but like a sister, not a girlfriend. I'm sorry," Harry apologized. He wished that he could have gotten time with her alone to tell her the news, but this would have to do.

Ginny pursed her lips and stood up. "I'm going to bed, see you all in the morning," she stated sourly. Ron looked like he was considering going after her, but instead remained seated.

"Now, explain why you were coming out of a storage room with Draco." Hermione asked with a devilish look on her face. She of course felt bad for Ginny, but she was glad that Harry had told them this.

Ron's eyebrows found a way to hike higher on his forehead, and he looked slightly pale. "I'm kind of going out with Draco..." Harry mumbled. Hermione smirked while Ron looked slightly faint.

"You mean the guy who just tried to kill you?!" Ron exclaimed. Harry looked sheepishly at him.

"We were just kind of mad at each other that day. We're trying to get better about not fighting," Harry assured. Hermione beamed.

"Can we tell people?" She asked. When Harry quickly shook his head, her smile sunk. "They're going to find out though," she pointed out. Ron nodded his agreement.

"I know, I just think that Draco and I have to take this one step at a time," Harry said. After a few more questions about his and Draco's relationship, the three of them went to bed.

On the walk to their dormitory, Ron put a light hand on Harry's shoulder. "Hey mate, I'm not exactly glad you broke my sister's heart, but it's good that you told us when you did," Ron said. A smile crept up onto Harry's face; he was glad that Ron had so readily accepted them.

"Thanks, mate," Harry said before they both retired to bed.  
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"So you told them?" Draco asked as they met each other by their room before breakfast.

Harry nodded, and Draco leaned forward to kiss Harry lightly. They were still the same height at this age. Draco knew he had to savour it while it lasted, before Harry shot up and grew taller than him.

"Did you tell any of your friends?" Harry asked.

"Pretty much every sixth-year Slytherin knows," Draco said with a slight shrug and a sheepish smile. "Word travels fast in the dungeons," Draco explained, making Harry bite his lip.

"I suppose if most people know, then it would be safe for us to sit with each other during breakfast," Harry said. Draco smiled and reached for Harry's hand.

"That would be great!" Draco said. The two walked towards the Great Hall.

Almost all Slytherin eyes watched the couple when they walked in. Hermione, Ron and Ginny stared at them as well. Ginny still looked pissed, but Hermione and Ron had slight smiles on their faces.

"We should probably sit with the Slytherins," Harry whispered, not wanting to make Ginny even more mad by practically rubbing it in her face that he was gay.

Draco pulled Harry over to the Slytherin tables and they took a seat. Not everyone was there yet, so Draco and Harry found a seat across from Blaise and Pansy. Even a few teachers were staring at them at this point.

Pansy smirked at the two and Blaise was smiling. "Hey, Harry," Blaise greeted. Harry returned it a bit shyly. Draco planted his arm around Harry's waist and sent a sneer towards anyone who looked oddly at the two.

"Nice to see you've finally decided that Slytherin is better than Gryffindor," Pansy commented.

Harry wasn't quite sure how to respond. He kind of felt like he was with Lucius and Narcissa again, alone and freaked out. Draco kissed Harry softly on the cheek, which made Harry grin.

"Of course he likes Slytherin more. Who could resist me?" Draco asked with a cheeky grin. Harry smirked.

"I suppose that means you think Gryffindor is better than Slytherin?" Harry asked.

"I think we all know you were meant to be a Slytherin, my Snake," Draco said, whispering the last part.

"I suppose you're right, Dragon." Harry whispered right back, which sent shivers down Draco's spine.

"Could you two be any grosser?" Blaise asked with a crinkled nose.

"No, please continue. I'm enjoying the show," Pansy said with keen interest in her eyes as Harry pressed a quick peck against Draco's lips before pulling away.

Other than that, breakfast went smoothly, though afterwords Hermione had quite a few more questions for Harry.

"Why didn't you sit with us?" She complained. Ron nodded, also wanting to know the answer.

"I didn't want to upset Ginny any more than I already have," Harry explained.

"Also, why are you guys so close? It seems like you've been dating for years," Hermione exaggerated. Harry had to think a bit; they had been acting rather close, especially since no one had known they were even dating until yesterday.

Harry shrugged. "I guess we're just so similar that it seems like we've been dating for a while," Harry lied, hoping it sounded plausible. One day he would tell his friends all about his adventures as being a teacher, but today was not that day.

Hermione didn't look completely happy with his answer, but didn't pester him further.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the end of the day, Harry was lying on the bed in the storage room with Draco pulled up close to him, wrapped in his arms.

"Today was exciting," Harry commented with a sleepy voice.

Draco made a soft humming noise as his agreement. "It only gets easier from here," Draco muttered.

"I still have to meet your parents," Harry said. He was a little sad that the Lucius and Narcissa that liked him so much didn't really exist anymore. He would have to meet them all over again and they would probably hate him.

"That sounds like a fun idea for spring break," Draco said as he rolled over so he could face Harry.

Harry grimaced at the thought, but that was still a ways away.

"You think we could spend the night in here?" Harry asked. He trailed a nail lightly down Draco's exposed back.

Draco shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea. We could totally spend part of the night in here, though," he said with a smirk.

"Didn't we just do it?" Harry asked. Draco pouted.

"What are you, an old man?" Draco rolled over so that he was straddling Harry's lap.

Harry shook his head, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Alright, but only because I love you," he said with a chuckle and a grin.

Draco nodded. "Only because you love me," he agreed as he leaned down for a kiss.


End file.
